The pale moon was nowhere to be seen in Tralee last night. The sun hasn't shone there for days and it has been so wet you could have strayed with your love into the pure crystal fountain and come out no less soaked. But in the Brandon Hotel last night it was a case of "Crisis? What crisis?"
When the 1997 Rose of Tralee - Ms Sinead Lonergan, representing France - was finally crowned after midnight last night there were the same cheers and tears as in every other year. There was the same quote - "It's unbelievable" - from the winner; the same, likewise, from most of the audience: "I didn't pick her myself, but she is lovely."
But all has changed. The Dome is dead. Last night, the Rose of Tralee broadcast came from the Brandon Hotel for the first time. And, as the Dome heaved and lurched above its 2,500 empty seats in Force 9 winds yesterday, the word in Tralee was that the contest will be staged at the Brandon in future years.
The second night of the contest was postponed from Wednesday until yesterday after high winds raised fears about the safety of the temporary canvas-covered Dome, where the event normally takes place. A decision was made early yesterday to transfer the second night to the Brandon Hotel.
From nine o'clock yesterday morning, RTE crews were stripping the Dome of its technology and installing it in the Brandon conference centre. By 5 p.m. everything was sufficiently in place to allow the Siamsa dancers to rehearse their interval act. On Wednesday, as the same group rehearsed in the Dome, light fittings suspended from the aluminium supports danced to the music while the wind rolled in waves through the deep blue canvas above.
The final contestant to be interviewed last night was Kelly O'Carroll, the Midlands UK Rose, who failed to tell Marty Whelan how she and her escort bopped all the way into the International Rose Club at the Brandon with such perfect timing that they would have drawn sighs from Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. And at 1.30 a.m., too.
None of last night's Rose contestants admitted publicly to having been at the club until about 3.30 a.m. despite an timely announcement from the DJ at 2.10 that the Roses "had to go home". He followed this with: "Now for music from Tight Fit, The Lion Sleeps Tonight."
