WAS anybody left in Kildare town around lunchtime yesterday? Just a handful. Everyone else had rushed over to Newbridge Silverware Showrooms for the return of their latest celebrity.

PHILADELPHIA Rose of Tralee contestant Sinéad de Róiste is the first African-American-Irish Rose, but certainly not the first mixed-race contestant (Irish Examiner, August 11).

SINÉAD de RÓISTE is not the first bicultural candidate in the Rose of Tralee, (Irish Examiner, August 11).

A FORMER Presidential candidate and founder of the Chernobyl Children’s Project will be cheering on her niece when she makes history by competing in the Rose of Tralee festival.