Strawberry Festival Royalty candidates prepare for pageant

Nine local youth are preparing for Marysville’s Strawberry Festival pageant and vying to represent their community.

“They are super excited about the opportunity to get out and represent the community. They’re very outgoing and it’s a fun bunch to work with,” said Maryfest board member Sandie Phipps. “They’ve got their speeches down and they’re very gracious kids."

At the March 14 Pageant the Royalty and King or Queen are scheduled to be crowned.

The Strawberry Festival Royalty travels out to numerous summer festivals to represent Marysville.

“Besides just the parades, we go and help out. We were at Walmart not too long ago collecting food for the food bank, they go out to the schools and read to the younger kids, so there’s a lot of activities throughout the year besides the festivals,” said Phipps.

Currently the nine candidates are giving their speeches in front of officials and local organizations.

“They’re rehearsing for the Pageant, practicing their speeches and doing public performances,” said Phipps, including recent performances in front of the Marysville City Council and the Marysville Historical Society.

“They were blown away with them. We’ve got a great group this year,” said Phipps.

“They’re a great bunch to work with,” she added.

Candidates include many different local students who are involved in their schools.

Aaron Able is a NJROTC, National Honor Society and band member at his school. His GPA is currently 4.0 as well.

Candidate Grace Kyser has been in band for six years with the wind ensemble at her schools. This is the third year she has also been on the tennis team.

Many of the students are active volunteers as well.

Candidate Elizabeth Card has received three presidential medals in volunteering and is part of the Key Club at her school.

Abigail Jeskey has volunteered at Summer Rehabilitation and the Marysville Community Food Bank. In the future she wants to be an emergency medical doctor or physical therapist.

At Cascade Elementary Ismarie Cuiriz has volunteered as part of the big buddy program. After graduating high school and then college she hopes to become an elementary school teacher.

Victoria Wilde has more than 300 hours of community service through work with Marysville Rotary, NJROTC and the Warm Beach Lights of Christmas.

Katelyn Leary has also volunteered with many different organizations in the area including the Marysville Soroptimists, Rotary and Marysville Tulalip Chamber of Commerce.

Two of the candidates hope to return to the Strawberry Festival after formerly serving as part of the junior royalty.

Zinead Morales is one of those candidates. She is part of the drama club at her school and the National Honors Society.

The second is Jimena Yanez, who has volunteered at 10th Street Middle School and the Everett Animal Shelter and hopes one day to become a nuclear medicine technologist.

The Strawberry Festival pageant is scheduled for March 14 at the Marysville-Pilchuck High School auditorium at 6 p.m.

Candidates and Maryfest members have tickets that can be purchased.

“We’re getting ready to launch a new website, so soon people will be able to buy tickets online as well,” said Phipps.