With its unique appeal, the 36th Mary from Dungloe Festival reached its climax with the crowning of a young Glasgow woman, writes Chris Ashmore
Few summer events have stood the test of time as well as the Mary from Dungloe International Festival in west Donegal. In recent years many festivals have fallen by the wayside, yet this event remains almost a part of the west Donegal culture, and still attracts large crowds.
Many emigrants from the area arrange their holidays to coincide with the festival. One watering hole, the Central Bar, is opened by its English-based proprietors only when they return for festival time.
But even those on their first visit soon get engulfed by the hospitable atmosphere. And the diversity of the festival programme is one of its appeals. It's not often that you get the likes of Joe Dolan, Daniel O'Donnell and the American Drifters on the same bill as pig racing, car-reversing competitions and raft racing.
The highlight for many is the crowning ceremony of the Mary from Dungloe, with the cavalcade and party afterwards. And this year's 36th festival was no different as thousands thronged the centre of the small seaside town to cheer the winner Aishling Friel (21), the Glasgow Mary, after she was crowned in the early hours of yesterday morning.
Aishling, who has close ties with the nearby Gweedore area, is a champion Irish dancer and has been coming to the festival since she was aged four.
An hour before she was to be on stage with host Daniel O'Donnell, she discovered the CD with her party piece was missing. A search of her hotel room and getting wet in the pouring rain solved that problem, but a bigger one lay in store. Within minutes of her going on stage the seams of Aishling's long white dress had torn in two places and panic set in. However, Daniel O'Donnell came to the rescue when he tasked his wardrobe manager, Loretta Terry, who rushed to the rescue backstage with a needle and thread.
Her jubilant parents and two sisters joined her on stage to celebrate as Daniel serenaded her with the ballad of Mary from Dungloe.
"I'm just over the moon, it's a dream come true. It was a bad night early on with my torn dress and my party piece CD missing but it turned out great," she said.
She went on a walkabout with Daniel O'Donnell in the centre of the town and the two were treated like All-Ireland football heroes.
Although the festival went through testing years, it appears to have weathered the storm and this is partly due to never-ending appeal of local star Daniel O'Donnell. In 1985, he fronted a band called Grassroots at the festival.
His career took over shortly afterwards, but he never forgot his early years and has since become a vital component of the festival. Indeed, each of his three indoor concerts in the past week attracted audiences of 1,000.
The Little Miss Mary for 2003 is Aoife McGarvey (5), Loughanure, Co Donegal, who also had a late night when she joined the winning Mary early yesterday morning. Aoife was following in the footsteps of her mother, Marie, who was selected as the Little Miss Mary 18 years ago.
Fourteen Marys - including entries from New Jersey, New York and Britain - took part this year. While most winners soon come back down to earth, Aishling will be flying high for some time - she resumes her job as an air hostess with British Midland on Thursday.
