Now in its 65th year, the Rose of Tralee International Festival has kicked off, bringing the 32 Roses on tour across the country before landing in Tralee for the competition on August 16.
So how is prep going for co-hosts Dáithí Ó Sé and Kathryn Thomas?
"Desperate", Thomas quips, speaking at the press day at Airfield Estate in Dublin. "He's giving out already..."
"The band is back together", the man himself chimes in, the pair a giddy and glamorous sight surrounded by journalists.
The annual festival, which returns to Kerry and promises days of excitement, was officially launched this morning, and "in typical Rose of Tralee style we've been feeding cattle, we've been doing shoulder stands", Thomas says.
Speaking of returning as co-host again this year, Thomas hailed the pair's connection on stage.
"I think just the fact that we were able to work so well together last year and that was really important for me coming on board because Dáithí had done more than a decade of building an incredible rapports, putting his own stamp on it, bringing the entertainment to a whole new level and when I was coming on board I felt I'm not here to change any of that because it works so well."
She adds that "there's no egos, we can take the mick out of each other, I'm prepared for anything that he throws at me and vice versa, and it's just to have more fun. I think that's the whole theme of the Rose of Tralee."
With women from across Ireland and the world joining together, Ó Sé notes that "it's a very weird situation where you get 32 people who've never met each other before and you're hanging out together for 10 days, like that's bizarre enough in this world".
Although the festival has been criticised in the past for what some see as outdated ideals of womanhood, Thomas is quick to dispell that assumption.
"I was always amused by that so what I did was ask the women on stage, you know? When you hear answers like, well I've two PhDs, I had a break from college, I wanted to come to Ireland..."
She also notes how for many of the women who apply, their "friends have gone to Australia, they've emigrated, they've gone to the States, wherever they've gone, there's a lot of people who feel that their friendship circles have moved on and this is a way to connect, it's a way to expand your social circle, it's a way to meet new people".
Understanding the festival can take some time, Thomas says, admitting that she didn't " understand fully what the Rose of Tralee was about" until she arrived in the heaving town for last year's festival.
Speaking about it today, she praised it as a "fun, brilliant, bonkers celebration of Irish women".
On top of that, Ó Sé says, "It really is a good picture and indication of what Irish women are doing in 2024".
"For example, if you go back to the 70s, I'd imagine the majority of the Roses would have been teachers, nurses or what would have been seen at that time as female skewed jobs. You come into 2024, you've engineers, you've doctors, you've occupational therapists. There's no difference between what men and women are doing."
In the 70s too, he says, "you went to college once and that was it. These ladies have probably gone to college three or four times, that's the norm now".
He also notes the profundity of the women sharing their stories with the audience, saying that, "It's a hard thing to go up on stage to tell a funny story in front of 200,000 people and a million people at home. To go up and tell your own story, okay this has happened to me, is not an easy thing to do, and I think that has been overlooked down through the years.
"Even if you have one person at home watching that to go and get help, I think it's huge."
With the festival drawing so many people with Irish heritage together, Thomas highlighted how central that sense of connection is for the Roses. "I think it's very easy for us at home to forget how important that Irish connection is for the international Roses who live away", she says.
Comparing it to the outpouring of support for Irish athletes at the Paris Olympics, she says, "In a way I kind of feel that's the same feeling for a lot of these women that are here".
"It's celebrating their Irishness, it's a coming together, it's a chance for their families to come back, it's a chance for their friends to come back, and it's a chance to stand shoulder to shoulder with 31 Irish women who are going, 'You're feckin' deadly!'"
Ever one to keep it real and grounded, Ó Sé adds that, "It's a big session as well, lads. Honestly, it's a huge session down there. As in, how they keep going, I don't know."
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