Smiles and crowns aplenty for new festival royalty
Published 1:30 am Wednesday, March 11, 2020
“I may never take this off,” Lindsey Coffman joked with her friends about her new crown.
Minutes earlier she was crowned queen of the 2020 Sequim Irrigation Festival at the 43rd annual Sequim Scholarship Pageant on March 7.
Judges selected Coffman and three others for the royalty court, including prince Logan Laxson, princess Alicia Pairadee and princess Olivia Preston.
See more photos from the pageant here.
The teens were selected from judges’ interviews on March 5, along with creative displays, impromptu questions and evening attire on Saturday night.
Seven contestants, also including Brii Hingtgen, Mya Janssen and Sydney VanProyen, prepared the last five months for the pageant.
VanProyen was chosen by fellow contestants as Miss Congeniality.
When asked about being selected queen, Coffman said she wasn’t expecting it.
“It’s a pleasant surprise,” she said.
As for the experience, Coffman said she “loved hanging out with all the other contestants.”
The new royalty will make their next appearance on March 21 at the festival’s Kick-Off Dinner and Auction at 7 Cedars Casino where their new float will be revealed. They travel with the float and festival volunteers to the Tacoma Daffodil Parade on April 4, and in the next year they will travel across Washington state promoting Sequim and the Irrigation Festival set for May 1-10.
The royals will also promote their platforms of autism awareness (Coffman), health and fitness (Laxson), installing more bike racks (Pairadee) and heart disease prevention (Preston).
If they complete their royal duties for the year, Coffman will receive $1,250 and other royalty $750 all for college/trade school scholarships.
Last year’s royalty — queen Emily Silva and princesses Brianna Cowan, Kjirstin Foresman and Shelby Wells — finished their tenure Saturday night. Festival Executive Director Deon Kapetan said they volunteered about 1,500 hours representing Sequim throughout the past year.
During their skit, the 2019 festival royalty sang the parody “We Love Crowns and Gowns” of Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll.” They also crowned this year’s Junior Royalty: princesses Karsyn Bidasha and Madelyn Schroeder of Greywolf Elementary, and prince Bryant Lawson and princess Claire Hardy of Helen Haller Elementary.
This year’s Sequim Irrigation Festival theme is “Sequim 125 — The Fields are Alive.”
For more information, visit www.irrigationfestival.com.
