The Raleigh St. Patrick’s Day Parade takes place Saturday, March 12th, and this year, we are excited to announce that one of our wonderful nurses, Kelly O’Doherty, will be leading the parade as Grand Marshal!
About Kelly O’Doherty
Originally from New Jersey, Kelly has lived in North Carolina since 1998. Prior to that, Kelly participated in the Rose of Tralee as the New York Rose in 1993 and also as the Director of the New York Rose Centre in 1995.
When Kelly isn’t at WakeMed tending to our labor and delivery patients, she enjoys spending time with her husband David, a native of Dublin, Ireland and her two sons, Conor and Rory.
Selection Process for Raleigh St. Patrick’s Day Parade
A Labor & Delivery nurse at our Raleigh Campus, Kelly was selected by the Raleigh St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee to be the 2016 Parade Grand Marshal. Kelly was granted this honor because of her work as Director of the North Carolina Rose Centre, which promotes Irish culture in North Carolina.
About the North Carolina Rose Center
The North Carolina Rose Centre is part of the Rose of Tralee International Festival in Ireland, one of Ireland’s largest and longest running festivals, celebrating 57 years in in 2016! The Festival began in 1959 as a way to draw girls descended from the southwestern city of Tralee back for a homecoming. In later years, it expanded internationally and now draws women of Irish descent from Asia and North America. “Roses” are selected through an interview-based pageant.
The heart of the festival is the selection of the Rose of Tralee which brings young women of Irish descent from around the world to County Kerry, Ireland for a global celebration of Irish culture.
After serving as a judge at North Carolina’s first Rose pageant in 2013, Kelly was asked to take over as Director of the North Carolina Rose Centre. Since then, the Center has sent a young woman, annually, to the Rose of Tralee International Festival in Ireland.
If you’re in town this weekend, make sure you stop by the Raleigh St. Patrick’s Day Parade! You can view a map of the parade route here. The parade begins Saturday, March 12th at 10 am.
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