Sequim Irrigation Festival shares first look at royalty float
Published 1:30 am Wednesday, March 28, 2018
Smiles and cheers shined through the rain clouds to help usher in the 123rd Sequim Irrigation Festival’s float last Saturday.
About 200 people stood in front of 7 Cedars Casino before the festival’s annual Kick-Off Dinner on March 24 to watch the royalty step on their new ride for the first time.
The float features to scale versions of Sequim’s welcome sign (following Oliver Strong’s design) and grain elevator along with cherry blossom trees, flower baskets, and purple velvet placed throughout the vehicle.
Guy Horton designed the float for the 11th time in 14 years, he said, with help from Jay Lounsberry.
He said with so many different aspects to Sequim, the float represents what you would show someone when they visit but he also felt it should appeal to locals especially.
“It’s for us,” Horton said. “It’s our hometown. The wow-factor is what it makes you feel inside.”
A major component of the float came from the hands of his “Blossom Brigade” of Lynn Horton, Robin Bookter, Whitley Sakas, Michelle Ostroot, Corrine Horton, Madelyn Schroeder who started in October making 16,000 flowers split between the two cherry blossom trees.
The float features lights on the trees and in lanterns crafted similarly to those in the City of Sequim. The elk’s head will move up and down on the welcome sign too.
Horton said he plans to add more elements in time for the royalty’s first parades, including The Daffodil Parade in Tacoma on April 7 followed by the Sequim Irrigation Festival from May 4-13 with the Grand Parade on May 12.
Horton said he repurposed some decorations from last year’s float and the royalty pageant in February and he chose to work with new materials, such as sheet metal for the grain elevator. “I think it’s going to show well,” he said.
This year’s royalty includes Queen Erin Gordon and Princesses Eden Batson, Gracelyn Hurdlow and Gabi Simonson. After Sequim’s festival, they’ll visit more than a dozen parades representing Sequim through the summer.
The festival’s other dignitaries include Grand Marshal Dave McInnes, Grand Pioneer Don Ellis and Wilma Rhodefer Johnson, and Honorary Pioneers Ross Hamilton and Lorelle Agostine.
The Kick-Off Dinner serves as one of the major fundraisers for the Irrigation Festival, which is run by volunteers. Organizers said this year’s dinner sold out and brought in about $35,000, the most ever, including about $22,000 for the live auction.
For more information on this year’s festival, visit www.irrigationfestival.com.
