Rose of Tralee festival emerges from mid-life crisis in fine shape

The Rose of Tralee festival has emerged from its mid-life crisis looking leaner and fitter than it has done for years.

A 45-year-old damsel in distress last spring, it was rescued from financial ruin by local businessmen, who have been squeezing its vital statistics all summer in search of cost efficiencies. But lovers of tradition can relax for the moment.

On the evidence of the 46th edition, the festival's so-called "root and branch overhaul" has not yet reached as far as the roses.

It was no surprise that the opening entrant, Limerick's Yvonne Nagle, was sweet and wholesome and worked with children. The real reassurance came next, in the form of Angela Crowley from England. Despite being a Sophie Ellis Bexter lookalike, Angela quickly revealed herself to be a niece of the Bishop of Middlesbrough, to have won "maybe a thousand" medals for Irish dancing, and to be a member of the "Riverdance Flying Column", (the movement's corporate wing). This set the tone for the night.

Despite the reforms, Tralee roses are still the sort of women you can safely bring home to your mother.

A possible exception (depending on your mother) is the New York rose, Elizabeth Kee. Elizabeth boasts a CV that includes the US reality TV show Temptation Island, where she played what the tabloids called a "bikini-clad temptress".

And while there was no such excitement last night - there is as yet no bikini section in the Dome - RTÉ viewers may be fearing/hoping (delete as appropriate) that she is the Rose of Tralee's future shape. She could certainly be the shape of the next title-holder: the bookmakers have made her favourite.

Another departure was the Philadelphia rose, Sinead De Roiste, billed as the first "African-American" entrant. But when you learned that Sinead's aunt is Adi Roche, you were reminded that the Tralee extravaganza is fundamentally a celebration of the diaspora, and the idea that we will turn the whole world Irish, eventually.

There was even a Dubai rose (from Drogheda), the fruits of an experimental scheme to water the desert.

Presenter Ryan Tubridy is a role model for the newly figure-conscious festival. Looking - if anything - thinner than last year, the RTÉ man surely cannot downsize any further. It's said that television adds ten pounds to your appearance, and Ryan needs every one of them.

Watching him in the flesh last night, there were moments when he was obscured by the microphone stand. But if he's not exactly growing into the job, he is gradually making it his own. The shadow of Gaybo shortens every summer.

The Rose contest continues tonight. But the competition for Escort of the Year (chosen - in secret ballot - by the roses) climaxed last night, in a welter of media indifference.

For the record, the 2004 winner is Gearóid Corcoran, a masters student at UCC and keen sportsman.

His favourite food is Chinese; his favourite film is The Shawshank Redemption; and he wants to travel the world and meet lots of different people.