This year celebrates the 46th anniversary of the International Miss Macra festival and Spin South West are proud to be partners of the Festival.
This festival is run by the one and only Clonoulty/RossmoreMacranaFeirme club, over the Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights of this August Bank Holiday weekend. There is a strong tradition of this festival in Clonoulty, as it shows what one Macra club can achieve.
Once again, this year’s festival will see girls travelling from all over the country and beyond to Tipperary to compete for the honour of being crowned International Miss Macra 2017, succeeding the very admired, 2016 winner Sinead Guiney from County Cork.
This year sees the festival sticking with its roots as it remains in Thurles, Co. Tipperary with the added venue on the Friday night in the Clonoulty community. The Friday night will take place in Coffey’s of Stouke. Such is the high calibre of the venues in Thurles that the festival this year will take place in two separate venues as we showcase the best that Thurles and Co. Tipperary has to offer: The Dome, Semple Stadium, on Saturday and the magnificent family-run Anner Hotel on Sunday night.
This year will once again see young ladies travelling from all over Ireland and abroad, in the hope of following in the footsteps of last year’s winner, Miss Sinead Guiney (Avondhu,Co. Cork); in being crowned International Miss Macra 2017. This, as stated, the 46th year of the festival, will see many new initiatives and a change of scene.
The Friday night will be comprised of a Charity Traditional music night which allows the contestants and supporters to let their hair down and enjoy live music from the best musicians in the area in what will be the most enjoyable of events. Doors will open at 9:30pm sharp with further full details on tickets available on our website.
Saturday morning heralds an intense day for the contestants, as they must rise early and prepare for their private interviews in front of a 3-person judging panel. This panel has been given the difficult task of selecting just one girl from the many contestants; the winner to be crowned “International Miss Macra 2017”.
Saturday evening’s Cabaret will occur in the Dome, Semple Stadium, Thurles, where the contestants will be interviewed on stage two at a time by our interviewer from Spin SW. This year, the interviews will be followed by live music from ‘The Waxies’ to which the contestants, their supporters and all those attending, can dance the night away.
Sunday morning starts with the contestants attending Mass at Clonoulty Parish Church. The choir accompanying this ceremony is comprised annually of members of ClonoultyRossmoreMacra and members of the local community. Following Mass, the contestants then take part in a family fun field day, in the Clonoulty G.A.A grounds. This enjoyable event is a mixture between a Macra Field Day and a School Sports Day. Here the contestants will have to show their worth by participating in many country-inspired activities. All this will be followed by a barbecue, weather permitting, which will be cooked by local butcher Joe Hammersley.
Sunday night is the International Miss Macra Gala Banquet in the Anner Hotel; the highlight of the Festival. To begin, all the contestants plus their escorts are photographed, before the champagne reception at 6.00pm. The contestants, their handsome escorts, the invaluable host-families, various supporters and Macra and non-Macra members will all sit down to enjoy a delicious five course meal. The meal will be followed by various speeches, live music by “Silver Dollar” and dancing. At the enchanting hour of 12.00 midnight, silence will descend on the Anner ballroom as anticipation reaches climax point; when the winner of the 2017 International Miss Macra Festival will be crowned. As the festival now draws to a close, the entire ballroom will dance the night away well into the early hours of Monday morning.
The judges for the 2017 competition this year are Joan Pollard Carew, Declan Ryan and a new judge from Spin South West. Joan Pollard Carew is representing Michael Carew Jewellers, Friar Street, Thurles, the main sponsor of the festival. Declan Ryan, who has held every known post of responsibility on the International Miss Macra Festival committee and also currently holds the title of President of the Clonoulty/RossmoreMacra club, completes the committee. We are delighted this year to be partnering with Spin South West Radio for the entire event with DJ’s and presenters filling the roles of adjudicator and MC for the weekend’s activities.
This event is sure to be yet another International Miss Macra festival to remember for all who make the Trip to Thurles, Co. Tipperary for this upcoming August Bank Holiday weekend. The committee of International Miss Macra look forward to seeing you all there and are more than willing and ready to give you a true taste of Tipperary hospitality and a weekend you will truly never forget.
Spin South West is proud to be partnering the 46th International Miss Macra Festival.
