How the Rose of Tralee captured public imagination from the start

Ryle Dwyer looks back at the origins of the Rose of Tralee festival and how it captured the public imagination right from the beginning

The Rose of Tralee Festival was established to boost Tralee’s annual racing meeting, which had suffered a somewhat chequered history since the first two-day race meeting was held in Ballybeggan Park in 1896. The annual meeting ran into difficulties in the 1930s. It was suspended in 1936 and was not revived until 1946.

The meeting enjoyed some success in the following years, and in 1957 the Racing Board granted Tralee an extra day’s racing. Some business people in the town decided to boost the first three-day race meeting with a carnival and the selection of a Carnival Queen to preside over proceedings.