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Mary from Dungloe (festival)
Irish music festival in Dungloe, County Donegal From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Mary From Dungloe International Festival is an Irish music festival held annually, usually at the end of July in the small town of Dungloe, County Donegal. The festival is centred on a pageant to find out which contestant has the spirit of the festival, who is then crowned "Mary From Dungloe". The winner of the contest holds this title for a year and acts as an ambassador for the festival. Irish emigrant communities from around the world, as well as some Irish counties and towns, participate by nominating a young woman, 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. The festival is inspired by the song "Mary from Dungloe" as the Rose of Tralee festival is by "The Rose of Tralee". In 2019, the festival celebrated its 52nd anniversary, with Roisin Maher from New York becoming Mary From Dungloe 2019.
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Participating communities
Many 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. Irish communities who have entered contestants include:
- Antrim
- Armagh
- Bayonne, New Jersey
- Belfast
- Birmingham
- Cavan
- Chicago
- Connacht
- Cork
- Kildare
- Derry
- Donegal
- Down
- Dubai
- Dungloe
- Dublin
- Edinburgh
- Fermanagh
- France
- An Ghaeltacht
- Galway
- Glasgow
- India
- Limerick
- London
- Louth
- Manchester
- Mayo
- Meath
- Melbourne
- Miami
- Midlands (Ireland)
- Midlands (UK)
- Monaghan
- North East England
- Tipperary
- New York
- Washington DC
- Philadelphia
- Roscommon
- San Francisco
- Spain
- Sydney
- Tyrone
- Waterford
- Wicklow
- Wild Atlantic Way
- Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
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Traditional festival events
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There are a number of traditional events which are run every year as part of the festival. Here are just a few examples:
 | This list of songs or music-related items is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (October 2021) |
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2025 Contestants
The 2025 'Marys' for the festival were:
- Ellen Luff – Birmingham[1][2]
- Caragh Ryan – Connacht[3][4]
- Alana O’Leary – Donegal[5]
- Anna Sutcliffe – Dublin[2]
- Ellie Ward – Dungloe[6][5]
- Maria O'Donnell – Edinburgh[7][2]
- Niamh Ní Bhaoill – Gaeltacht[8][2]
- Niamh Brown – Glasgow[9][2]
- Kate Tobin – London[10][9]
- Taragh Brady – Midlands[11][2]
- Tara Molloy – New York[12][2]
- Olivia Boyce – Philadelphia[2]
- Ciara Hassan – Ulster[2][13]
- Sarah Hughes – United Arab Emirates[2]
- Lucy Baskin – Wild Atlantic Way[5][2]
Ellie Ward, the Dungloe Mary, was crowned the 2025 Mary from Dungloe on 3 August 2025.[14]
Contest winners
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Below is a complete list of contest winners from 1968 to 2024.
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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.
- Daniel O'Donnell,[27] Boyzone,[51] Brian Kennedy,[30] Donal Lunny,[52] Altan, The Hothouse Flowers, Goats Don't Shave, Nathan Carter,[53] Christy Moore, The Sawdoctors, Paul Brady, Shane McGowan.
- Barry Sinclair, Jimmy Buckley, Hugo Duncan, Mad Dog Macrea, Louise DaCosta, Riverdance, Jake Carter and many more.
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Famous comperes
The Mary From Dungloe contest final has been compered by a number of famous faces.
- Gay Byrne
- Daniel O'Donnell
- Marty Whelan
- Pat Kenny
- Thelma Mansfield
- Gerry Kelly
- Noel Cunningham
- Dave O'Connor
References
External links
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