QUEEN OF THE SHAMROCK: Kilkenny's Mai makes international headlines, leading New York St Patrick's Day parade

Seventy years ago this St Patrick’s Day, proud Kilkenny woman Mai Reynolds was the toast of the Big Apple, making international headlines and leading New York’s St Patrick’s Day parade down Fifth Avenue.

In 1956, at the age of 21, Mai was chosen as the Queen of the Shamrock, beating 120 other ladies to the honour in a five-month-long competition. As such, she travelled to New York to lead the parade, and act as ambassador for the festival. She was promoting Irish produce and fashion, and meeting dignitaries such as the Mayor of New York, whom she presented with a hamper of shamrock and an Irish cake. CLICK THROUGH FOR NEWSPAPER COVERAGE FROM THE TIME

Queen of the Shamrock was a very big deal. Mai wore an all-Irish wardrobe, with an emphasis on tweed and linen. Local business Padmore & Barnes - still in operation today on Wolfe Tone Street - provided some of the items.
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She departed Dublin aboard the ocean liner Neptunia, with 300 other Irish passengers, on March 5, arriving in America on March 14. Of that number, only 112 were making a return trip; the rest were emigrating to the States.

Mai, who passed away in 2024, was a professional photographer in Kilkenny in the 1950s. From 9 High Street, Kilkenny, her studios were Castle Studios at John’s Bridge.
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She was a past pupil of Loreto Convent as it was then, and later studied photography in London, where she was awarded a gold star. Her daughter Anita has shared some newspaper coverage and cuttings from the proud moment, including the front page of the New York Herald Tribune in 1956.

“As they fade and tear with age, it would be nice to think she is remembered digitally somewhere in Kilkenny,” said Anita.