introduction: 0:03

Mark, you're listening to fascinating women with Mark Laurie. And now, Mark Laurie,

Mark Laurie: 0:08

hello, everyone. This is a special episode. Usually we're talking about our client, our woman's stories and drives in the show. And every time we come across something I just find interesting. In this case, Rose of Trelease, not mysterious name that inspired me. Now that was kind of interesting. So I got a hold of Katie, who actually filled the gaps in. And Katie Dooley, who's our guest today, is been a contestant to the rose the tree, and just tell us what that is. And welcome to show Katie first. Let's go there.

Katie Dooley: 0:41

Thank you, Mark. Thank you for having me. Yes, the Rosa truly is really cool and a perfect fit for fascinating women a few that's that's what you like to talk about. So it's Ireland's oldest and largest festival. It's been going on for about 65 years. I think this year is 65 and no this year is 66, 2025 is 66 and it celebrates Irish women and the diaspora around the world. So I applied at the Western Canada center. It's for women 18 to 29 so I'm out of that age group now, but when I was that age group, I taught at the Western Canada center,and now I run the western Canada center, along with a fabulous lady by the name of Catherine. So there's two of us, Catherine and Catherine and yeah. So we look for high achieving women of Irish birth or Irish descent, and then they get to go to a festival in Ireland to represent the Irish community in Western Canada.

Mark Laurie: 1:49

How many of these around the world?

Katie Dooley: 1:51

There's 60 centers globally.

Mark Laurie: 1:53

The Irish didn't really get out there, yeah.

Katie Dooley: 1:57

I mean, that's kind of Yeah. Yeah, that's kind of it, Mark. You hit the nail on the head. I, I was in Ireland this spring, and they have an immigration museum that tells the story of the Irish leaving Ireland. And, you know, they make jokes, and it's true, but there's Irish pubs all over the world, and so there's 60 centers globally. As I mentioned, there's a couple in Australia. We have four in Canada. There's about 10 in the United States. There's one for every county in Ireland. So that's 26 if I'm correct. But there's also a German rose, there's an Abu Dhabi rose, there's a Dubai rose, there's the Luxembourg rose,yeah. New Zealand, New Zealand. The New Zealand Rose is actually our current Rose of Turley, so the one who gets to represent all of Ireland around the world.

Mark Laurie: 2:46

I'm just gonna paraphrase this back. So what happens is all these different roses of pick their best winner, their best foot forward. And that woman, young lady, goes to Ireland, and then they pick the rose from there. And so this time the road last year, the Rose was from New Zealand.

Katie Dooley: 3:06

Yes, yeah. And so then that that woman gets to spend a year representing Ireland on an international stage, and she does philanthropic work, and she does like kind of public relations work. So she'll do ribbon cuttings and tree plantings. And the roses always do the St Patrick's Day parade in New York City every year. So if you ever been lucky enough to go to New York on St Patrick's Day, you'll see the roses in the parade. Rosa truly is also partnered. Rosa truly international is partnered with the Chernobyl Children's Foundation. So they'll do charity work in Chernobyl. They did. They walked the Camino this year. Yeah, they get to a bunch of cool stuff,

Mark Laurie: 3:45

bunch of stuff for it. Now. It started 66 years ago. So that would be something like 19 .. . 19, 56

Katie Dooley: 3:54

59 59 Yeah, I think about 59 I don't I'm bad at math mark, but yes, yeah.

Mark Laurie: 4:01

So what, why did it start? Like is there was there some history before that? This is that Ireland that time? Was it just local, or was it an international thing as well?

Katie Dooley: 4:09

Yeah, so it was local to county carry, which is where the town of Chile is located, Carrie and so, yeah, it was just this little, little festival. And the Rosa truly is based on a song of the same name, and it's a love song, and it was written, written to this lady from her suitor. But the line that we focus on is it was not her beauty alone that won me. It was the truth in her eyes ever dawning? Though it's not. We're very like, it's not a pageant. It's not a beauty pageant. It's not about how pretty you are. It's about what you are as a human being. That's why. Yeah, so that's why we look for high achieving women, women who are getting back to their communities, and then they continue to do the love.

Mark Laurie: 5:00

Fabric work is really part of it, or you just really don't set that aside. There's no bikini contest,

Katie Dooley: 5:06

no nothing like that at all. I mean, the women, part of it is, you know, dressing appropriately for the occasion. And if you go to I was lucky enough to be in Chile in 2023 for the festival with our rose and even as a coordinator, we got a list of events and dress codes. So there's like a you know, and we do interviews, and we expect you to dress business casual. And if you don't, you know, that would be the judges would take that into consideration. But there's women, women of all shapes and sizes and and interest, you know, and backgrounds as well. We the, I forget what year it's. In the last five years, they had their first Black Rose, but she was born in Ireland and was a nurse citizen, and so, yeah, it's getting even more diverse because, yeah, you need to be an Irish citizen or a virus descent, and that's it, and that's it.

Mark Laurie: 6:00

So just be a Irish woman, yeah, how many redheads pop up?

Katie Dooley: 6:05

Um, less than you think. The world gets more more diverse. The Texas rose, I want to say, two or three years ago, she just did like a 23 in me swap, and it came up Irish. So she applied for the Rosa. Truly,

Mark Laurie: 6:18

Sweet so the listeners, do you 23 mean if you're Irish, yeah, you can follow this up onto so the local person. So London is this year London's woman's name, not London? Is it Western Canada that she does her thing in? Or is it is all of Canada easy?

Katie Dooley: 6:36

So we're the western Canada center. So we can accept applications from women who live in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan or Manitoba, London's local to Edmonton, and that's where the center is. So that's been really nice for us as center coordinators to be able to like but we do. We've had women predominantly from Vancouver and Calgary win as well. We had a Fort McMurray winner once, and Saskatchewan, small town, Saskatchewan winner once. And so they'll do things in their local area. We don't make them come back to Edmonton. It's nice if they can. We do like them back for the next selection night, for the next rows, but we really try to, you know, Western Canada is pretty big,

Mark Laurie: 7:19

so you have a three day event, don't you? You're,

Katie Dooley: 7:26

yeah, it's based, yeah, we're growing it. So we, we start our Friday night our event with a Friday night meet and greet. Super casual women come for a glass of wine and some snacks and get to know each other. This is the first time, again because of our geographical size, that they'll all meet each other in person, as well as myself and my co coordinator, and they'll meet the MC for the night, and they get a talk. And we mostly try to stay out of it so they can really get to know each other, because one of the big pillars of this is international connections and international friendships. We want to make sure they get time together. We do zoom calls and things beforehand as well so they can meet, but Friday night is where they really get to meet. Then Saturday is the big day. It starts for them with their interviews with the adjudicators. The adjudicators are people who are prominent in the Irish community or the business community, and big supporters of women. So we've had some cool judges over the years, and I have a bunch of interesting people earmarked for this coming year. So I hope some of them say yes,

Mark Laurie: 8:33

the judges women or men. or a mixture

Katie Dooley: 8:35

We've definitely, we've definitely had a mix of both over the years. Some years we've had fully female panels. We've never had a fully male panel, but we have had male judges over the years. So actually, one judge, I'll just put it out in the world, because maybe he'll hear this and say, Yes, one judge I want for next year is actually London's esque. They're called escorts. One London's escort from Ireland last year. So actually it's a gentleman shooting there. All the women are paired with the biggest job they have is actually security, because this is a big deal over there, right? And his name was, is Shane, and he was just lovely. And I put it in his calendar, and I said, Come be a adjudicator first, because you know better than anyone what they're about to get into. And hopefully he'll come in 2025 and adjudicate for us. But those are just the winners. That goes, there's, or is there run ups, there's just one person from each region goes, one person from each region. As a coordinator, we have to, we have to send in who the runner up is, in case there's any reason that our selection can't go, but that's like a sealed envelope sent straight to head office, and it's not open unless you know, needed, yeah, smoke and daggery, yeah, it is so and then, ideally, a coordinator. So. The Center will go. Sometimes it's hard. You got to get to Ireland in peak travel season. So we, I'll be honest, we haven't always sent a coordinator, but we are hoping to moving forward. And then, of course, the Rose and her family, and so we had nine people from Western Canada go in 2023 so that was a lot of fun. It's impressive, yeah?

Mark Laurie: 10:25

Well, they, they do seem like a certain type of girl is, is answering or winning for the rest of Canada?

Katie Dooley: 10:34

Yeah. I mean, sort of across the board. Sorry. Can you hear my dog? No, we're good. Okay, good. Sorry, you'll have to cut that up, but she's starting to make noise. If you do here, just let me know across the board we are seeing it's typically on the older side. So again, you can be 18 to 29 but it typically trends a little bit older, because we are looking for not that you can't be accomplished at 18, but there is some life experience that you get. So they're all you know, in careers and very successful. So I mean women that apply are lawyers and doctors and nurses and teachers and business owners, yeah, and they also, they, they're really well rounded. So all the women have some sort of hobby or passion, and it can be anything. I mean, they do party pieces. Both we do party pieces locally and then also in Ireland. So what's a party piece? A party piece is, I mean, it's like your talent, but it doesn't but it can also be kind of fun and silly. Okay, so like London Irish danced on on TV. There's quite a few Irish dancers, but one woman was a flute player, drummers, lots of musical instruments, obviously, but they've had one lady grew up on a farm, and she showed the audience how to last. It was sheep. It can just be fun and silly. And then they all have some sort of giving back to the community. It might be one thing, or it might be a little bit for everything, but they all, yeah, give back and forth

Mark Laurie: 12:22

So for the contestants, especially the winner. Do their do they see life changes because of their involvement?

Katie Dooley: 12:29

Oh, absolutely everyone whoespecially gets to the International Festival in Ireland will say that it is a life changing event. It's only two weeks. But, yeah, it's a whirlwind of two weeks. Historically, I don't think anything happened this year, but women have married escorts, lifelong friends. Actually, one of our pastors went to Ireland this same summer for a wedding of a rose she met when it was her, her cohort. Yeah, so absolutely lifelong friendships, lifelong confidence. Like, there's so much speaking. So they do radio appearances, they do TV appearances. They have to, you know, speak on stages. So, yeah, it's like a injection of confidence, like I met um chatter bit with London, or the current winner, I guess it is. And she's extremely poised, and she talked about the difference of her confidence level, what she experienced, and all the stuff that she's involved in. And she's a very, very good represent, representative of the of the rose. Yeah, incredible, yeah. And, I mean, I remember, I've known London for years. We were friends from our Irish Dance Day, so I was thrilled when she won. And that's why I made a point of going to Ireland, because, again, these women come from all over, and so it's very rare that I know the winner. So I was like, this is the year I go to Charlie. And, yeah, she's, you know, been shy in the past, and had a little bit of stage right. And then by the end, she put it in such a funny way. She's like, I, like, I don't even care anymore, because it's just, like, you think of like, exposure therapy, like it's just constant, like, you can't, you don't even have time to worry. You're like, you're dragged from one appearance to the next, and so there's no time for straight tray. And just the difference being like, hey, I need you to speak at this thing. Now, she's

Mark Laurie: 14:31

But once they get to to triple A rose through the like, Yeah, okay. trailer, the event itself, that's two weeks long, yeah?

Katie Dooley: 14:40

So the first week is the rose tour. And so they rose tourdifferent counties sponsor the festival to have the roses come and visit. And it's all just a bunch of publicity for the businesses and the towns that have them. London's was that a the organizers actually said it was too much. I think they did. Six counties, and like, about the same amount of days, like in about 10 days, they did six counties. And now for Western Canadians, we know that's not a huge area, but it was Go, go, go, go, go. And they were in a different hotel room every night. But they they get to do some sightseeing. They like to see some really cool things in Ireland that even if they are tourist attractions that like you and I would go see, when we want to visit Ireland, they get to see it in a way that no one else gets to see it. And that's just, it's so cool. And so, yeah, they get to do all sorts of things that you'll never you are. Give us an example. Give us an example. It makes a difference thing. So there's one I did this when I went to Ireland. There's the new Grange passage tomb. It's just outside of Dublin. It's a tourist attraction, but they would close it down, and then the roses get to go and see it on their own, whereas when you are I go, it's going to be packed with other tourists. They get, like, private performances from singers and dancers and things like that. They get to eat great meals at these hotels that you and I would pay a ton of money to eat at, and they just get to do it, yeah, so they just get all these fun experiences. One of our Astros actually said that they were on the bus and doing the rose tour. And there's all these police cars, like slashing and she's trying to figure out what's going on, like, what's the accident? Like, what? And then she realized it was their police escort. So just like, it's a way of seeing Ireland that only a very small amount of people get to see. So that's, yeah, that's week one, and I, we didn't join her for that, because she was on the move. But when you're going to these different counties, there's a it's a big, colorful extravaganza kind of thing. Absolutely, yeah, kids come out. Little girls ask for autographs. Signs are a big thing, even on the highway. If you're in Ireland during Rosa truly, you'll see signs of the local because each county has a rose. The county girl, they'll have, let's go whoever. Yeah, it's a it's a really big deal. So yeah, it just depends on what the event is like. Sometimes it's a food tasting, sometimes it's a parade, sometimes it's a performance, but yeah, the whole community will come out to meet the roses, and they're like little celebrities for a couple weeks. So yeah, that the rose tours, I think, definitely the most chaotic part of being selected. But again, you'll see Ireland in a way that no one else so do other you have other people come in and don't win inside. They also want to go see it themselves. Do they become the rose tourists? Um, you wouldn't be able to go on like the tour bus with them, but you have no but, I mean, you're, you go to catch, you know, see what all this happening. Because it sounds like it's, it's a big deal for the for the rose winners, but it sounds like it's a, I mean, it's a real County Fair extravaganza on a scale I can't quite imagine. I mean, usually have a county fair here, like, you know, Calgary is a good example, the Calgary Stampede about the same time. There's the the Harvard rodeo and and these little, small things kind of happening. But to have, you know, 26 or 60 counties suddenly having the same imposed on the same day is a big deal. Yeah, so to and I don't know what it looks like county to county, but the town of truly, during the festival, triples in size. Wow. So that my perspective what each county would so counties want the roses to come, right? Because it is a huge tourist boost. And just like again, the publicity, right? This goes all over social media, all over the news in Ireland, and then, of course, internationally, because the international centers are sharing what the roses did that day, right? Yeah. So it kicks in, that's cool, yeah.

Mark Laurie: 18:58

So it started 1959 was there a lore or a reason that started like, Was there something that kind of came up in the past and said, you know, we've had this low key version there. We celebrate the women, or anything that happens. It just some people got together and said, you know, we got some amazing Irish women. We should do something about that.

Katie Dooley: 19:16

I think it just started as, like, a little small county competition, kind of that county fair idea that you were talking about, and it's just turned in. It started in County carry, and then it expanded to Ireland, and then they realized that there are a lot of Irish women outside of Ireland, and it's really just exploded ever since. Well, it's rows of trees. Is that a place to read? Is that truly, yeah, truly, later on, on on the west coast of Ireland,

Mark Laurie: 19:45

So that's where it started. Yep, yep, yep. So they get the big handle, good on them.

Katie Dooley: 19:52

But really funny, and I didn't know this, so truly, is in County carry, and they've never had a carry, a carry rose wing. There, obviously, except for the first years when it was only for Carrie, but ever since, they've never had and Carrie is usually a favorite because it's local. So carries a favorite in Dublin. Are two big favorites or big centers, right? And, sorry Mark, I should have grabbed water. Yeah. But yeah, there's never been a Carrie rose winner. And you'll find this really interesting. Obviously, we have it here, but it's really big in Ireland sports betting, like, they'll have little like store fronts for sports betting, for horses and soccer, and go in and make sure you can just, we're I hear that, nope. Oh, good. She just let my dogs using it for mine. You can do sports betting for the rose of Charlie, so they'll tell you the odds of what they think each woman is, and you can place the bet, and if your rose is picked, you could potentially win a lot of money. So wild. That's cool. So that's the first week. What happens in the second week? The second week is the festival proper, and that all happens in Chile. And again, it's just a lot of events, and it's amping up to the two nights on television. So some of the things we did, we had, like, a Trad music night, so listening to great Irish music, and the public comes up to meet the roses. We did. I'm just like going through our itinerary in my head. We did. It's called pub twining. So each Rose is paired with a local pub. So we're paired with a pub in our the English translation, it's called the square. They were lovely. They had all these posters for London and the Western rose. And so we do a pub twining event again, another opportunity for the public to meet the roses. There's two big parades. They do a nighttime Parade, which is beautiful. It in some fireworks. Everything's lit up. The streets are it's like Christmas lights. It's not Christmas but Christmas lights everywhere. That's right. And I took this picture. I should send it to you. Mark. They have flags of each country that participates. So I have this picture under the Canadian flag. And so, yeah, they do two big parades. I lied. They do three big parades. So they do a daytime parade, little more family friendly. They do a nighttime parade, and then they do a parade after the rose is selected. And then, for us, there are so many parties mark. These are left open to the public, but this is things the roses will do. So the first night, there's a welcome party, and then I don't even remember the second night there was another party. Like it was literally a party every night.

Mark Laurie: 22:51

Welcome to Ireland,

Katie Dooley: 22:53

yeah. And then there's the two TV nights at the end, which are always Monday, Tuesday. This is middle of August, and there's after parties to both of those TV nights as well. So yeah, it's a lot and it's a lot of fun. And I just looked it up really quick, over half a million people watched the Rosa truly on television. So

Mark Laurie: 23:15

wow, it's a really big half a million people. That is. Those are good metrics. That's huge metrics. I Okay,

Katie Dooley: 23:24

yeah, so that's the last week, and it was, it was funny, and I'm sure, I mean, London was there a week longer, but I'm sure the other people, the other Canadians I was with, felt the same. I felt like I didn't have jet lag because they're seven hours ahead. So when I would go to bed here, right at, like, 10 o'clock. It'd be 2am in Ireland, and that's when we would go to bed. So I never we were like, wow, you adjusted really fast. I was like, Well, I never actually adjusted. We just stayed up so late and then slept in so late that it was like being at home, right? It was one night. It was the first TV night, and then we went to the after part, and the TV was filmed till it probably went till 11 o'clock mark, like it was all, I'm an early person, it was already late. And then we went to the after party, so like midnight, 1am and then the escorts have an after after party. Now, the roses aren't allowed to go to this, but we went to this and it was like 6am Ireland time, and I was texting my husband, and he was like, Katie, I'm going to bed. And I was like, Cool, I'm not. And then, as a coroner, we had to be up for a meeting at like, 11 o'clock that morning. And I was like, What am I even doing? But when in Rome,

Mark Laurie: 24:39

now, you'd mentioned the first parade is more family friendly. What makes the second and third ones less family friendly?

Katie Dooley: 24:47

I mean, it's not not family friendly. It just goes later, right? So if you had kids, you might not want to be out till midnight waiting for fireworks. I mean, there definitely were young families there,

Mark Laurie: 24:57

butare they like? Longer? Parades, people on flat decks, or everybody walks

Katie Dooley: 25:03

a mixture. The roses are on their flat they're on their floats and flat text, I'm so sorry, Mark, but they have performers like in costumes and musicians and bands and all that are, you know, walking down the parade route too, and it gets it super crowded. We got there quite early, and we probably, probably waited an hour or two for it to start, but they had musical performers, so it wasn't a terrible wait. And then, yeah, the parade was probably easily an hour, hour and a half. And then there were fireworks. It was really fun night, but, yeah, long night. And if you do ever was that truly, and you're doing that really, is a small town. It has a population about 25,000 people. Like, it's not huge. And now, of course, they have 100,000 people there. So we're at this parade until, I don't know, after midnight, and we realize everything's closed for food. Like, Steph, we're not used to it. North America. We're like, what are we gonna eat? We've been here all night, so pro tip, eat before, or stay in a place where you can cook or something.

Mark Laurie: 26:09

No, that's a lot of, where do they all stay? Like, how do you do a lot of empty buildings for the rest of the year?

Katie Dooley: 26:18

Yes, and no, actually, yeah, if you're a tourist and you're not directly associated with the festival, definitely book far in advance to stay in Tralee for the festival. The roses are put up at the sponsor Hotel, which is called the Meadowlands, they're phenomenal. So all the after parties, and a good chunk of the events happen at the Meadowlands. So the tradnite happened there, and there was like a little family and friends thing. And all the after parties happen at the Meadowlands, and the roses stay there, and that's exclusively for roses, so no one else can stay there during that time again, there's like some security surrounding that. Coordinators and family we stay at. It's actually student housing, and the festival holds that for us. So we had a little kitchenette, and each center, we're guaranteed it's really nice. Actually, we're they sponsor us a room, two rooms in a four bedroom apartment, and so we share with another center. Typically, that's what we're kind of, you know, base rate guaranteed, or you can buy a whole apartment for 500 euros for a week. That's outstanding. So I took a room, and then our MC and his family came. And so it was him, his wife, his two daughters, and his mother in law, his wife, mom. And so I had a room to myself. And then he and his wife shared, and the daughter shared, and the mother in law got our own room. And so we all stayed together, and they got, I mean, they got a fairly cheap trip to Ireland. So it is, you know, I will say it's student housing, but we ought to cook for ourselves and crystal, she's our MCs wife. She's lovely. She made sure the fridge was stocked. And on some of those later nights, she would say, tater tots are in the oven for our drunk asses. Mark, we'd come home tater tots, so she's a saint.

Mark Laurie: 28:25

Where do people enter? Like, we'll put listeners, they'll put this information down in the bio section there to be able to find it easily. But do they stay taking entrance now, or does it in May?

Katie Dooley: 28:37

No, we're taking entrance immediately. We actually already have two maybe publishes. We'll have more rows of truly.ie is the main website. There's a link and I can send you the the actual version. There is a big old button that says, Apply Today on The Rose of truly website. So from that, you know, if you're listening and you're not in Western Canada, that button will work for anyone. They'll direct you to your closest center. So, oh, sweet. So just that one one funnel to get you wherever you're going to go, Yep, and they forward it to the appropriate coordinator.

Mark Laurie: 29:12

Is there a cost? Enter?

Katie Dooley: 29:14

There is a small fee through Rosa, truly, I believe it's 25 euros. And some of that is because they want to make sure you're serious. They used to get like, grandmas applying for their daughters, and then the daughter would be like, I don't want to do this, grandma. And so they would have to sift through all these applications that weren't real. So small fee to Rosa, truly international. And then we do strongly encourage if you are a western Canada applicant, to have a sponsor. We're not going to turn anyone away if you don't, but we do strongly encourage it. It helps us keep running. Soif anyone's listening and wants to apply, I'm happy to talk through more of those details.

Mark Laurie: 29:59

Uh, actually, I'm a sponsor with you guys as well. Now, one of your sponsors was a photography Yes, I got to, I went through a period of time where I was, uh, official photographer. When I started off my career of everything, it was like, I'll throw down, this might be official photography. So it was, it was really, really quite sweet. Any final comments before you wrap up? Um, you've cut a lot of ground.

Katie Dooley: 30:21

Yeah, we have,yeah. I mean, it's an amazing, amazing experience. I would say, if you're on the fence, just apply, and you can even if you just want to experience a great weekend in Edmonton, if you just want to meet some new people. If going all the way to Ireland isn't for you yet, that's okay. You can let us know and just come enjoy a great weekend, get some interviewing experience, and that's all it needs to be. So, yeah, we can help women along at any stage, even London's a great example. Her for years, she was like, I'm never doing this, I'm never doing this. I'm never doing this. And then she was, you know, she just turned 30, and so 29 is the last year, and she's like, Fine, I'll just throw my name into the hat, and she's had the best year of her life. So if you're unsure that's kind of my last last two cents is just a child, contact us and we'll talk you through it.

Mark Laurie: 31:21

Oh, sweet. Well, thank you so much for your time. Today, it's been light learning about the roses.

Katie Dooley: 31:25

Thank you, Mark. I appreciate being able to spread our message even further, because it's a huge thing in Ireland. Us, any Irish person, I know, they know about it, but it's a little I won't say it's a hard sell, but Canadians don't know about it. So I really appreciate the platform. It's grown Great. I'm Mark Laurie from fascinating women. This has been Katie Dooley, the coordinator, what 10 would you have with that? Coordinator, yep. Coordinator, there we go. Of the rose. Laurie, thank you so much. Thanks, Mark.

Mark Laurie: 31:55

This has been fascinating women with Mark Laurie, join us on our website and subscribe@fascinatingwomen.ca

Exit speaker: 32:04

fascinating women has been sponsored by inner spirit photography of Calgary, Alberta, and is produced in Calgary by Lee Ellis and my office media.