Alison O’Connor, a 27-year-old civil servant and member of Causeyway Macra na Feirme was awarded the top prize of €1,000 from Athboy Credit Union after being crowned the 2018 Blue Jean Country Queen.

Last year’s winner, Alison Sinnott from Wexford, returned to Athboy to hand over the crown at a ceremony which took place following the 2018 gala banquet on Sunday evening.

Runner-up was Catherine Dillon from Kilkenny.

She received €500 from M&G Groundworks. Third place went to Katie Maguire, from Meath, who received €250 from Hi Spec Construction.

Throughout the event, Alison and her 21 fellow queens took part in a hectic and fun-filled weekend which saw them do everything from take part in on-stage interviews and a fashion show to attending a barbecue with main sponsors, Athboy Credit Union, as well as playing a game of fancy dress football and singing karaoke with the festival organisers and judges.

On Friday night, the queens were interviewed on stage by Enfield Macra member Adam Burke, before dancing the night away to DJ Mark Caffrey in the Darnley Lodge Hotel.

On Saturday they had private interviews with the judges, before taking in all the fun of the festival’s street carnival and craft fair. That evening they sang karaoke, went on a pub crawl and finished up in The CU Marquee, enjoying music from Louth-based band Cool Chic.

On Sunday, Alison and the queens played fancy dress football in the fair green at the Stephens, Cooke and Associates-sponsored Lark in the Park, before modelling the latest fashions and dashing off later for the gala banquet. There were celebrations, tears and hugs galore in the CU Marquee following the announcement as the queens rushed to celebrate with their new friend, the 2018 Blue Jean Country Queen.

Positive representative

Speaking afterwards, Alison thanked both the organising committee and her fellow queens, adding: “This weekend has been absolutely incredible from start to finish” and expressed her wish to be a positive representative for both the Blue Jean Country Queen Festival and Macra na Feirme over the next 12 months.