SPRINGFIELD - Eleven colleen hopefuls were whittled down to five finalists on Saturday night at the John Boyle O'Reilly Club at the 2019 Springfield Colleen Preliminary Contest. Contestants competing this year came from areas including Springfield, Wilbraham, East Longmeadow, Longmeadow, Ludlow and Belchertown.

The young women were interviewed by a panel of judges, consisting of John Pappas, Ellen Redmen and Sharon Roulier, with the five finalists picked to represent the Springfield Colleen Court. The finalists were MaryKate Caron, 17 of Wilbraham, Lauren Poole, 20 of Wilbraham, Rose McCaffrey, 17 of Springfield, Caileen Simonds, 17 of East Longmeadow and Mary MacDonnell, 17 of Longmeadow.

At the Coronation Ball and Awards Ceremony to be held on Saturday, January 26 at Sheraton Springfield Monarch Place, one of the finalists will be crowned Springfield Colleen. The Springfield Colleen and her Court will ride atop a themed float in the Holyoke St. Patrick's parade and attend several events, parties and fundraisers throughout the year. All members of the court receive a genuine Irish wool sweater, scarf, sash, jewelry and more. In addition, the colleen receives a tiara and a free trip to Ireland. Each of the five colleen finalists will be eligible to apply for the Mossie and Kathleen Murphy Scholarship.

More information on the 2019 Coronation Ball and Awards Ceremony here: https://www.springfieldstpatricksparade.org/coronationballawards