Talk about making an entrance. The outgoing Rose of Tralee, Maria Walsh, arrived into the Town Park in Tralee in dramatic style yesterday after completing a 10,000 ft tandem parachute jump.
During the skydive, which is one of her last acts as Rose of Tralee before she hands over her tiara tomorrow night, her tuxedo wearing escort and instructor, Damien Cahill, presented her with a Rose.
Clearly enjoying the adrenalin buzz, Maria also laid down the gauntlet for the new Rose saying "It was pretty sweet to be landing as International Rose of Tralee. We need to see this happen every year."
The process to select this year's Rose gets underway in earnest tonight on RTÉ One as Dáithí Ó Sé puts the first batch of contestants through their paces in the first of two live shows from the festival dome.
Dáithí Ó Sé getting the selfies in early this morning during rehearsals
Rehearsals began early this morning and will continue all day. Dáithí told TEN his advice for the Roses is "to enjoy the whole thing. People can get bogged down with going on tv and doing party pieces....more so than anything else they are here to have fun, they should enjoy it. It's a unique experience, it's a once in a lifetime experience.."
He also said it doesn't take too long for the Roses to come out of their shell.
The #RoseofTralee hopefuls can be quiet when they first arrive, says @daithi_ose – but that doesn't last! https://t.co/fRaoz7i9Z3
— RTÉ TEN (@RTE_TEN) August 17, 2015
The Rose of Tralee is on RTÉ One at 8pm tonight and tomorrow and you can follow events on the TEN Live blog here and on Twitter @RTE_TEN. For a preview of all this year's contestants click on the video
