‘It was all a blur’ - all roads lead to Tralee for Grace
Being chosen as the Westmeath Rose for 2024 was “all a bit of a blur” for Grace O’Connor.
The 20-year-old support worker from Killucan was chosen from 10 would-be Roses at a selection event in The Greville Arms Hotel on Saturday April 6.
Sponsored by The Irish School of Shamanic Studies in Castlebar, Grace impressed the judges during her on-stage interview and reading of a self-penned poem.
As Westmeath takes part in the International Rose of Tralee Festival on a bi-annual basis now, she is the first Westmeath Rose since Rachel Duffy, who won the competition in 2022 in a historic first for the county.
Grace says her predecessor “really revived the competition” in Westmeath.
“I met her for the first time at the selection; Rachel is so lovely and one of the nicest girls I’ve ever met,” she says.
“We’ve met for dinner since then and I’m so lucky to have someone like her in my corner with that experience of winning it.
“She told me if I ever need anything, don’t be afraid to ask and offered me all of her dresses to wear if I wanted.”
Grace had decided to apply for the Westmeath Rose competition after what started as a joke with her brother last year.
“We thought it would be a bit of craic, he used to say I would be the face and he would be the behind-the-scenes guy,” she says.
“We applied in August, put the paperwork through, and I had completely forgotten about it.
“Then [my brother] Ryan passed away in December. He took the shortcut home – there’s no point in hiding it.
“I thought I didn’t want to do it without him as nobody else in the family even knew I had applied at that point, but my sister told me ‘You have to do it for him’.
Grace says she’d like to use her term to be an advocate for mental health. “As a Rose, I’d like to shed light on mental health, because the stigma around it is going,” she says.
“What we need to do now is have conversations on how to help people who are going through it – more needs to be done there.”
On the selection night on Saturday week last, Grace read a poem about handling the loss of her brother. “I was starting to tear up towards the end and getting all shaky,” she says.
“I said to myself, ‘Hold it together Gracie, get it finished’, and as soon as I finished and got off the stage, I started crying.
“I was a few seats away from the judges but I think I got away with it and nobody noticed – it was very emotional.”
She said she had been “overwhelmed” by the support towards her since she was crowned the 2024 Westmeath Rose.
“I only told my friends and my parents about it a week before but everyone has been so delighted, so proud of me and it’s just been so heart-warming,” says Grace.
“I’ve never had this much support or so many people happy for me, it really is amazing and I’m so grateful.”
Grace is a support worker with the Muíriosa Foundation in Mullingar, helping people with disabilities, a job she says she enjoys as “you’re going in and feeling like you’re really making a difference”.
She also has a keen interest in mindfulness and spirituality.
“We get so wrapped up in the 9-5, even societally everything is just go, go, go,” says Grace.
“But life is so magical, there is so much beauty out there and it’s the little things – life is what happens when you’re busy making plans.
“Sometimes you need to take a step back and take everything in, we need to bring gratitude back into our lives.”
A former Columba College Killucan and St Finian’s College student, Grace says all roads now lead to Tralee.
“It’s all ahead of me now,” she says. “At first, I was like ‘Oh my God, now I’ve to go on telly? But at least I’ll get to meet Dáithí Ó Sé.”
Grace will be one of 32 roses from these shores and abroad to be interviewed by the host live on RTÉ over the course of the International Rose of Tralee Festival on August 16-20.