SIUSLAW NEWS | SATURDAY, MAY 19, 2018 | 7A
ROYALTY from page 1A
The entire Senior Court
were seniors at Siuslaw High
School this year. They gradu-
ate in June.
The Senior Princesses each
mentored one Junior Prin-
cess — first-grader Aleeya
Thomas, second-grader Jas-
mine Krause, third-grad-
er Abigail Galvan-Mendez,
fourth-grader Kylee Stinger
and fifth-grader Brittney Ad-
ams. The students come from
both Siuslaw and Mapleton el-
ementary schools.
The 2018 Rhododendron
Festival features the theme
“Rhody Rendezvous,” and this
theme permeated the evening.
Past Queen Rhododen-
dra Kay Robertson said that
Rhody Days has come “full
circle for her” as she returned
to judge this year’s Corona-
tion.
“It’s really awesome to see
the whole community come
together for this weekend, and
to see the youth and the talent.
Everybody comes together to
make a really beautiful cele-
bration,” she said.
The other judges were
Florence Mayor Joe Henry,
Florence First Citizen Rachel
Pearson, Coast Radio host
Wayne Sharpe and longtime
area resident Diane Conlee,
who has been Siuslaw High
School’s cheerleading coach
since the late 1970s.
“It is unbelievable what this
town can do in one week,” said
Pearson. “The town explodes
in a really good way — kind of
like the rhododendrons com-
ing out this year.”
Several community mem-
bers and businesses joined
together to adorn the event
center’s stage with rhododen-
drons. Gene Cochran again
provided rhododendrons for
Queen Rhododendra’s bou-
quet, which were then ar-
ranged by Gary and Sharon
Cargill of Florence in Bloom,
and Bones Nursery created
the living rhododendron stage
arrangements.
More rhododendrons will
continue to be in view for a
couple more weeks, as the
flowers are in full bloom in
the Florence area. The best of
these will be on display at the
American Rhododendron So-
ciety’s Rhododendron Flower
Show Saturday and Sunday at
the Florence Events Center. In
addition, rhododendrons are
the star of the show during
the Florence Area Chamber
of Commerce’s Rhody Days
Grand Floral Parade on Sun-
day.
PHOTOS BY CHANTELLE MEYER/SIUSLAW NEWS
Goss, Reavis and their court
will also be in the parade on a
float designed by Oregon Pa-
cific Bank and Banner Bank.
During the Coronation,
the Rhody Court first took
the stage during “Thunder,”
performed by CROW’s (Chil-
dren’s Repertory of Oregon
Workshops) Flight Dance
Team. The rumbling music
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Above, Lainey Goss (center) reacts in sur-
prise as she is named 2018 Queen
Rhododendra. She joins King of the Coast
(far left) as the reigning royalty of
Florence’s Rhododendron Festival. Left,
each Senior Rhododendron Princess part-
nered with a Junior Princess for mentor-
ship, friendship and fun.
matched the entrance of Ned ing he chose to dance in or-
Hickson on his custom 1983 der to make people laugh. He
Honda Shadow 750 — spe- picked a variety of styles to
cifically chosen to match the rock out to onstage, including
chamber’s “Rhody Rendez- many fan favorites.
vous” logo. He was joined by
Sanchez followed with a
his wife Alicia and the pair vocal rendition of “Feeling
provided banter as the event’s Good” — saying it perfectly
masters of ceremony.
embodies how she feels being
The pair introduced each on the court and getting ready
prince and princess before be- to move onto college.
Next, VanWinkle took a
ginning the talent portion of
look at the “Man in the Mir-
the evening.
Edward Mielke’s Cinema ror” as she used American
Studies class at Siuslaw High Sign Language to sing, dance
School created video inter- and bring the song and its
views with the Senior Courts. meaning to life.
Waters stepped out next,
These short videos aired be-
fore each student performed running a slideshow of im-
portant personal photos while
their talent.
Gentry began with a ballet. he played an original song on
She said it was her first year keyboard.
Finally, Saindon wrapped
dancing again after a sever-
al-year hiatus and that she up the talents with a new skill,
feels comfortable on stage, but ukulele, accompanying her
version of “I’m Yours.” She
only when she’s dancing.
Next, Goss read a poem said she tries to embody emo-
she wrote about living on the tion every time she comes on
coast while the screen behind stage, in honor of important
her showed a fast motion vid- people in her life.
The Hicksons invited the Ju-
eo of her as she painted a wa-
nior Court back to stage with
tercolor sunset.
Reavis performed next, say- their guardians. Ned asked the
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young princesses a variety of
questions about their families
and their experiences on the
court.
Then, during the formal
wear portion of the evening,
mentors and parental figures
escorted the Senior Court
across the stage. The young
men wore matching fitted
suits with blue velvet jackets
while the young women wore
long gowns and high heels in a
variety of styles.
According to Alicia, there
were four components of the
selection of this year’s Rhody
Rulers. Talent, poise, partici-
pation and button sales con-
tributed to the final scores.
She then tested their poise
by asking each court member
one interview question.
Poise was again in the spot-
light at the conclusion of the
evening as 2017 Queen Rho-
dodendra Claire Waggoner
took her final walk as queen.
She gave an update on the
past year and her future plans,
which gave the judges time to
complete their scorecards and
turn them in to the event’s
accountants, Bill and Cindy
Grable.
While the points were tal-
lied, Flight returned for its
final performance of the sea-
son, a spectacular number
called “Sand.” The group holds
auditions for its new season in
June.
The Senior Court held
hands across the stage as the
students waited for the an-
nouncement.
Waggoner first crowned
Reavis and then Goss as the
reigning rhody royalty.
Along with their titles,
which they will hold for the
next year, the king and queen
won the main Rhody Court
Scholarships, while the other
Senior Court members re-
ceived a smaller scholarship.
“We would like to acknowl-
edge that this evening would
not be possible without the
Florence Area Chamber of
Commerce and the time, ef-
forts and talent of the Rhodo-
dendron Court Committee,”
Ned said.
This year’s committee was
comprised of Jenna Bartlett,
Wendy Krause, Dee Osborne,
Katie Bartlett, Nancy Boskett
and Jared Anderson. In ad-
dition, numerous volunteers
stepped forward to fundraise
for and work with the Rhody
Court.
U.S. Coast Guard Station
Siuslaw River presented the
colors at the start of the eve-
ning.
The Rhododendron Festival
is sponsored by the Florence
Area Chamber of Commerce,
its underwriters Driftwood
Shores Resort, Korando Den-
tal Group, Three Rivers Casi-
no Resort and TR Hunter and
its distinguished sponsors. In
addition, businesses spon-
sored each member of the Ju-
nior and Senior Courts.
“The Rhododendron Fes-
tival kind of takes on a life
of its own,” Ned said. “What
I love about the Rhododen-
dron Court, and particularly
our festival’s coronation cer-
emony, is that it's something
that ours as a community — it
brings us all together to kick
off a weekend before we wel-
come the rest of the world to
enjoy Florence. While it’s cer-
tainly an event that is a part of
Rhody weekend, the corona-
tion is uniquely ours. And that
makes it special."
In honor of “Rhody Ren-
dezvous,” the Rhody Courts
will make several appearances
during this weekend’s festival,
including at Saturday morn-
ing’s Rhody Run and noon Ju-
nior Parade.
For more information
about the Rhododendron
Festival, check out the cal-
endar of events s
on A8 or
visit www.
florence
c h a m b e r.
com.