Kerry O’Brien serves as judge for Irish festival
On March 29, 2014, Kerry O’Brien served as one of three community judges for the 10th annual Austin Rose of Tralee Festival, held at the Fado Irish pub in downtown Austin. The Rose of Tralee festival is an international festival that has been based out of Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland since 1959. Every year for the past 10 years, the Austin chapter of the Celtic Cowboys has held a local Rose of Tralee festival, where an “Austin Rose” is chosen to compete as the Austin Rose for the Texas Rose title in Dallas. The chosen Texas Rose then travels to Ireland in August to compete against Roses from both Ireland and other parts of the world for the title of Rose of Tralee, which is televised in front of millions of people. Last year’s Texas Rose was the winner of the international competition. Kerry and the other two judges selected Cyndi Crowell, a lifelong Austinite, as the 2014 Austin Rose among the eight excellent candidates.