Blue Jean title comes home as local girl wins crown

Meath's Celine Smyth, a 21-year-old student, has been crowned the 2010 Blue Jean Country Queen in Athboy, at the end of a very exciting festival weekend. Celine, who is a member of Athboy Macra na Feirme, beat off competition from 26 other girls from all over Ireland and abroad to take the title. She receives €1,500 along with the perpetual trophy and was crowned on Sunday night of the June Bank Holiday festival much to the delight of the many Meath supporters attending. Runner-up was Aoife Connors from Waterford and in third place was South Tipperary's Grace Dunne. Celebrating its 23rd festival, members of Meath Macra na Feirme, who organised the event, were delighted with all aspects of the Blue Jean Festival weekend. Despite the rain, weather conditions didn't dampen the fun. Huge crowds and the massive array of events organised over the weekend were just the recipe to turn this year's festival into one of the largest and most successful to date. It kicked off Friday night with local celebrity Joe Healy who had the task of interviewing the queens on stage in front an enthusiastic audience and put all the girls at ease. The fun and craic flowed all weekend up to Monday afternoon as live music was still pumping out throughout the town of Athboy, the home of the festival. Sponsors had great praise for the organisers who had ensured there was something for all the family at the weekend. Now regarded as one of the top festivals in the north-east region, the committee is looking forward to an even bigger event for 2011.