The Blue Jean County Queen is a festival run by Meath Macra na Feirme that has taken place over the June Bank Holiday weekend in Athboy, Co. Meath since 1987.
In 1987, Patrick Farrelly a member of Macra na Feirme from Carnaross was inspired the song "Blue Jean Country Queen" by Linda Hargrove to create the festival. Since its inception, it has been run by Meath Macra na Feirme taken place in the town of Athboy, Co. Meath. Although in 2001 the festival was postponed due to the outbreak of foot and mouth disease.
The closure of The Old Darnley Lodge Hotel in 2013,[1] which was the venue for much of the weekends activity, resulted in the festival organizers having to put together alternative arrangements for housing many of the events. The hotel re-opened under new management the festival returned there the following year.
The festival verged on moving to the nearby town of Navan in 2014. However a set of lucrative sponsorship offers from local businesses as well as Athboy Credit Union was enough to guarantee the festival remained in Athboy.[2]
The 2020 Festival was due to be headlined by The Blizzards and Jake Carter. However, the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[3] The organizing committee chose to mark the June Bank Holiday weekend with "The Blue Jean Country Stream" a nostalgic look back at previous festivals featuring clips from through the festival's 30-year history was broadcast over social media.[4]
In 2021, with the festival again postponed due to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, Blue Jean Country Queen Aoife Scanlon embarked on a fundraising campaign in aid of the Irish Cancer Society.[5]
The festival is set to return in June 2023.[6]
The women who participate in the competition are either members of Macra na Feirme, or a similar rural youth organisation in the case of overseas contestants. There is also a contestant from the Autonne Villages in France whom Athboy are twinned with. Each contestant will have gone through an interview at their own county/regional level in order to be chosen to compete at the festival. Over the weekend the women are interviewed on stage by a celebrity and also by a panel of judges. Celebrity interviewers have included Ray D'Arcy, Brendan Grace, Darragh McCullough and Hector Ó hEochagáin.
The festival is made up of several events that run from the Friday before the June Bank Holiday to the Bank Holiday Monday itself. The events include:
The Queens arrive and are interviewed on stage. In 2023 the interviews were not held on Friday, instead, a music session was held in a local pub.
Saturday has featured a street carnival, craft fairs, children's art competition, karaoke and live music. Since 2017, the festival's main sponsor Athboy Credit Union has held a BBQ and fun day in their car park on main street as part of the festival. The evening's events would begin with a Pub Crawl throughout the town led by the Queens and committee. In 2023, the pub crawl did not take place. Instead, the Queens' on-stage interviews were held on Saturday evening followed by live music.
The Fair Green in Athboy plays host to family entertainment including music, entertainment, sideshows and the Queens engaging in a game of Fancy Dress Football. For many years the Queens were required to take part in a fashion show. This element of the festival was removed in 2023. That evening a banquet takes place in the Darnley Lodge Hotel, followed by live music and the announcement of the winning Queen at midnight.
A music session usually place in the Darnley Lodge Hotel along with lunch for committee, Queens and their host families.
| Year | Winner | Represented | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Samantha Baldwin | Wicklow | |
| 1988 | Valerie Huxley | Limerick | |
| 1989 | Martina Mongey | Meath | |
| 1990 | Stephanie O'Grady | Limerick | |
| 1991 | Martina Daly | Cork | |
| 1992 | Ailish Murphy | Laois | |
| 1993 | Audry Margret Moran | Cork | |
| 1994 | Rosemary Holmes | Mayo | |
| 1995 | Brid O'Reily | New York | |
| 1996 | Mary B. Miller | Laois | |
| 1997 | Helena Fagan | Westmeath | |
| 1998 | Pauline Byrne | Kildare | |
| 1999 | Denise Cormican | Galway | |
| 2000 | Pamela Leonard | Mayo | |
| 2001 | N/A | N/A[7] | |
| 2002 | Gillian Porter | Donegal | |
| 2003 | Carol Byrne | Waterford | |
| 2004 | Edel Toolan | Sligo | |
| 2005 | Jean Williams | Galway | |
| 2006 | Deirdre Maloney | Clare | |
| 2007 | Haily Clarke | England | |
| 2008 | Catriona O'Connor | Seandun, Cork | |
| 2009 | Jillian McKay | Scotland | |
| 2010 | Celine Smyth[8] | Meath | |
| 2011 | Petrice Dineen O'Leary | Seandun, Cork | |
| 2012 | Leanne Brennan | Wexford | |
| 2013 | Canelle Beuze | France | |
| 2014 | Kate Manning | Limerick | |
| 2015 | Susie Manson | Scotland | |
| 2016 | Dearbhla O'Connor | Louth | |
| 2017 | Alison Sinnott | Wexford | |
| 2018 | Alison O'Connor | Kerry | |
| 2019 | Aoife Scanlon | Meath | |
| 2020 | N/A | N/A | |
| 2021 | N/A | N/A | |
| 2022 | N/A | N/A[9] | |
| 2023 | Niamh Sheehy | Kilkenny |