Amazing news! Ridgewood Irish Dance has been named as the New Jersey Center for the Rose of Tralee.

The Rose of Tralee is one of the premier events of all of Irish culture. The festival takes place each year during August in the town of Tralee in the west of Ireland, and it draws contestants from around the world. (Click here to visit the international web site.)

The New Jersey winner will receive an all expenses trip to Ireland in June to represent the Garden State in the Preliminary International Festival. If she is successful, she will return to Ireland in August, once again with all expenses paid, for the experience of a lifetime as she competes in the Festival's Final.

Applications for the 2007 New Jersey Rose competition can be downloaded by clicking here.

Rose applicants must be between the ages of 17 and 27, must never have been married or had children, must be a New Jersey resident and must be of Irish decent.

The contest is based on personality and overall inner beauty, with a strong emphasis on the ways in which the contestant embraces her Irish Heritage.