Jade Cunniffe

The Pagaent.

September 2016, the month that changed it all. I had been working as a hairdresser in a little village just outside Galway city, called clarinbridge. It was a really tiny rural village with a strong sense of community. For years every September they had held a festival named The Clarinbridge Oyster Festival. Galway city itself also hosted one a month later but it held no comparison. There were a series of things involved in this which made it the extravaganza it was and pulled every sort of folk from the village to get involved . There were radio and magazine interviews, Market days, promotional nights /days and of course the queens selection night! Each year the festival committee would hold some short interviews with local girls who hoped to be crowned that years Oyster Queen. In 2016 I was crowned that said lucky winner. I had been put forward by my boss in the hair salon. Tracy and I had worked together for four years at this stage and had become the best of friends, I had been having a rough time in my personal life and my confidence was low so she believed by entering me for this title it would boost my confidence, put me back out into the world and help me make new friends and connections whilst also boosting our salon from a buissness point! Once the queen is chosen the committee would pick a beauty salon and a hair salon to style her for the year pro bono! In return the salons would be promoted and given inside access to the festival activities, so to be crowned the queen and work inside the salon that was chosen was a double victory really!