Mary From Dungloe (festival)

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The Mary From Dungloe International Festival is a popular Irish music festival held annually, usually at the end of July in the town of Dungloe, County Donegal. The festival is centered around a pagent to find a young lady who is crowned “Mary From Dungloe”. The winner of the contest holds this title for a year and acts as an ambassador for the festival. Irish emmigrant communities from around the world as well as some Irish counties and towns participate by nominating a young lady, 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 Festival origins
2 Participating Irish communities
3 Traditional festival events
4 Contest winners
5 Entertainers and musicians
6 Famous comperes
7 External links

[edit] Festival origins

The creation of the festival was prompted by the release of an old ballad entitled Mary From Dungloe in 1968 by a band called The Emmet Spiceland Ballad Group.

The inspiration for the original ballad has been much debated but the popular theory is that it refers to a young woman by the name of Mary Gallagher who was courted by a man who had just returned from America. Her parents refused to let them marry and he left to return to where he had made his wealth on October 6th 1861. The previous year some of her family had gone to New Zealand when 286 adults and 49 children were evicted from the Glenveagh estate. On December 5th 1861 she emigrated to join her cousins. On the boat she met and married a man called Donal Egan. She gave birth to a baby but died within four months while her son only survived a few more months. This tragic love story was to inspired a local stone mason, Pádraig MacCumhaill, to write the song after which the festival is name.

There are, however, a number of other theories as to the identity of the original Mary, who inspired the song. It has been suggested that it was a Mary Browne from Lough Salt, Dungloe. Other suggestions have been a Mary from Meenmore and a Mary O’Donnell of Loughtunney. Regardless, the success of the songs at the hands of The Emmet Spiceland Ballad Group inspired the people of Dungloe to create a music festival in its honour.

[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 upto the present year.

Year	Winner	Represented	Originally From	Age
1968	Celine Powell	Dublin	Galway	?
1969	Marie Mc Glinchey	Donegal	?	?
1970	?	?	?	?
1971	Gloria O'Boyle	Donegal	Bunbeg, Gweedore	?
1972	?	?	?	?
1973	?	?	?	?
1974	?	?	?	?
1975	?	?	?	?
1976	?	?	?	?
1977	?	?	?	?
1978	?	?	?	?
1979	?	?	?	?
1980	?	?	?	?
1981	? Gavigan	An Ghaeltacht	?	?
1982	Maire Mc Cole	Dungloe	?	?
1983	?	?	?	?
1984	?	?	?	?
1985	?	?	?	?
1986	?	?	?	?
1987	?	?	?	?
1988	?	?	?	?
1989	Carmel Kelly	Donegal	Donegal	?
1990	?	?	?	?
1991	Pamela Sheridan	Meath	?	?
1992	Paula Reilly	Monaghan	?	?
1993	Samantha Pairman	North East England	?	?
1994	Sarah Mullholand	Dungloe	Dungloe	?
1995	Katie McMahon	New York	New York	?
1996	Siobhan Bignall	Melbourne	?	?
1997	Heather Stewart	Edinburgh	?	?
1998	Brighid ?	Sydney	?	?
1999	Ciara ?	Derry	?	?
2000	Shirley McGlynn	Manchester	Dublin	21
2001	Fiona Callan	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.