Mary From Dungloe (festival)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Mary From Dungloe International Festival is a popular Irish music festival held annually, usually at the end of July in the small town of Dungloe, County Donegal. The festival is centered around a pageant to find out which contestant has the spirt of the festival, who is then crowned “Mary From Dungloe”. The winner of the contest holds this title for a year and acts as an ambassador for the festival. Irish emigrant communities from around the world as well as some Irish counties and towns participate by nominating a young woman, endearingly titled a “Mary”, to represent their community at the contest. The festival has grown in popularity over the years and now regularly attracts tens of thousands of visitors to the area.

1 Participating Irish communities
2 Traditional festival events
3 Contest winners
4 Entertainers and musicians
5 Famous comperes
6 External links

[edit] Participating Irish communities

Many Irish communities around the world with links to County Donegal have their own local contests to pick their community's “Mary” who subsequently is nominated to travel to Dungloe to compete in the Mary From Dungloe contest final. Irish communities who have entered contestants include:

[edit] Traditional festival events

There are a number of traditional events which are run every year as part of the festival. Here are just a few examples:

Event	Traditional Location
Opening Ceremony	Main St.
Introduction of MFD Contestants	Main St.
Open Air Music	Main St.
Fun Fair	The Cope Car Park
Sports Day	Dungloe Gaelic Athletic Association Grounds
Men's Golf Open	Cruit Island Golf Club
Ladies Golf Open	Cruit Island Golf Club
Treasure Hunt	Main St.
Annual 5K Road Race	Main St.
Fly Fishing Competition	Dungloe Marina
Little Miss Mary Competition	Main St.
Table Quiz	Ionad Teampall Cróine
Junior Table Quiz	Ionad Teampall Cróine
Social Evening with the Marys	Various
Historic Tour of the Rosses	Departs Main St.
Interviewing of the MFD Contestants	Carrickfinn Airport
Bonny Baby Show	Parochial Hall
Daniel O'Donnell in Concert	Festival Dome
Parade	Main St.
Band Competition	Main St.
MFD Contest Final	Festival Dome
Gala Ball	Ostan Na Rosann
Closing Ceremony	Main St.

This song or music-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

[edit] Contest winners

Below is a list of contest winners from 1968 up to the present year.

1968	Celine Powell	Dublin	Galway	?
1969	Marie Mc Glinchey	Donegal	?	?
1970	?	?	?	?
1971	Gloria O'Boyle	Donegal	Bunbeg, Gweedore	?
1972	?	?	?	?
1973	Norah Boyle	Donegal	Burndennet, Tyrone	?
1974	?	?	?	?
1975	?	?	?	?
1976	?	?	?	?
1977	?	?	?	?
1978	?	?	?	?
1979	?	?	?	?
1980	?	?	?	?
1981	? Gavigan	An Ghaeltacht	?	?
1982	Maire Mc Cole	Dungloe	?	?
1983	?	New York ?	?	?
1984	?	?	?	?
1985	?	?	?	?
1986	?	?	?	?
1987	Maria McGovern	Dublin	Dublin	?
1988	Maureen Connelly	Jamestown, PA?	New York City	24
1989	Carmel Kelly	Donegal	Donegal	?
1990	?	?	?	?
1991	Pamela Sheridan	Meath	?	?
1992	Paula Reilly	Monaghan	?	?
1993	Samantha Pairman	North East England	?	?
1994	Sarah Mullholand	Dungloe	Kincasslagh	21
1995	Katie McMahon	New York	New York	20
1996	Siobhan Bignall	Melbourne	?	?
1997	Heather Stewart	Edinburgh	?	?
1998	Brighid ?	Sydney	?	?
1999	Ciara Diver	Derry	?	?
2000	Shirley McGlynn	Manchester	Dublin	21
2001	Fiona Callan	Wicklow	Wicklow	?
2002	Jolene McMonagle	An Ghealtacht	Falcarragh	22
2003	Aisling Friel	Glasgow	Glasgow	21
2004	Lisa Mc Kelvey	Dungloe	Dungloe	?
2005	Katie Armstrong	Philadelphia	Philadelphia	23
2006	Jennifer Halton	Kildare	Kildare	22
198?	Anne Marie Mc Daid	Derry	?	?
197?	Maureen ?	Derry	?	?

This song or music-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

[edit] Entertainers and musicians

Many Irish and international acts have performed at the festival over the years. The traditional annual crowd puller, however, continues to be internationally renowned folk singer Daniel O'Donnell, who made his festival debut in 1985.