ERIN SWEENEY WINS THE 20TH ANNUAL COLLEEN PAGEANT By George O'Brien - Arizona Correspondent There is little doubt that Erin Sweeney was the sentimental favorite to win the 20th annual Colleen Pageant after finishing second three years in a row. But there is no doubt she earned it this year.
Erin Sweeney
The Sweeney clan has been active in the Irish community for a long time. Erin's aunt, Kelly, won the inaugural competition 20 years ago. Her parents have been deeply involved in the Irish dance community and her sister, Kelly was one of the step dancers that performed as part of the entertainment. Her uncle, Michael Sweeney, has been a volunteer for many events and did the videotaping of this year's pageant.
Like many of the second and third generation Irish, Erin is well known to the local Irish community. She earned even more points for her upbeat attitude and persistence after three near miss attempts to win the pageant. Erin may have been the sentimental favorite, but she won by doing an outstanding job. Her performance of "A Great Day For the Irish" was extremely well done. She has always been a fine vocalist, but her voice now has a greater richness than ever before. Erin had to do a good job. This was possibly the strongest overall collection of Colleen contestants yet. Almost every contestant could have made the top five and the talent segment of the competition was quite entertaining, in spite of some technical difficulties.It is very hard for the audience to judge the Colleen contestants. Every contestant is very attractive, although this is not really a beauty contest. The judges meet with all the contestants at a preliminary meeting and get a chance to see the women in a slightly more relaxed format. The audience tends to put more emphasis on the talent competition, but the judges are equally focused on intelligence, poise, and how articulate the woman is. The skill of the woman to present herself in public has become an extremely important aspect of the job. The 2002 Colleen, Meghan Hallinan Tomasik, did a large number of public appearances including radio and TV interviews to promote various Irish events. With the increased visibility of the Irish community, this role for the Colleen is becoming very very important. Erin Sweeney should do a great job representing the Irish community. The First Runnerup, Erin Lanus, is another visible member of the Irish community. Her father is well known for his flute and whistle playing at the seisiuns. Erin is a founding member of the Gaelic Thunder dance troop that is performing at the Renaissance Faire. She is primarily known as dancer, but has switched emphasis to playing the fiddle. Erin performed "Song for Ireland" as a fiddle tune and as a vocal. The Second Runnerup was Reagan Hanley who has a degree in creative writing gave a presentation on what it means to be Irish. The other two finalists gave very impressive musical performances. Meagan Anderson sang and accompanied herself on the keyboard. She is a songwriter and is working on putting together Celtic Rock band called "A Head Of A Girl" patterned on the Cranberries, so we may be hearing more about her in Irish music circles once they get started. Marina Beckwith played an Irish tune on the flute and did a very job. Marina majors in music therapy with a minor in dance. Sandy Carroll did a great job in collecting an outstanding collection of contestants. Erin Sweeney may have won, but there were no losers. This was an outstanding group of women and it was a great event.
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