Festival board seeks queen hopefuls

The Louisiana Shrimp and Petroleum Festival and Fair Association and the Past Queen’s Club are once again in search of that special young woman to carry on the tradition of representing the oldest state chartered harvest festival, said Darby Isham Ratcliff, festival executive director, in a press release. The young woman chosen will be a goodwill ambassador for the Tri-City area and will represent the 84th festival.
All candidates must be at least 18 years old and not more than 23 years old by Jan. 1, 2020. Candidates and their parents shall be residents of east St. Mary Parish or lower St. Martin and Assumption parishes.
Each candidate should have attended at least their junior and senior year in an east St. Mary Parish high school. Candidates shall be high school graduates by not less than one year, shall never have been married, pregnant or given birth to a child.
The new queen will be required to attend 11 festivals selected by the association’s board. The board also encourages the new queen to attend, when possible, all other festivals and any city functions to which she is invited. Required travel expenses are paid by the festival.
The queen must abide by all rules and regulations of her host festival while attending as a representative of the Louisiana Shrimp and Petroleum Festival. She will also be required to attend the Mystick Krewe of Louisianians’ Mardi Gras Ball in Washington, D.C.
Before embarking on her trip to Washington, D.C., she will be honored at a luncheon hosted by the Governor and first lady of the State of Louisiana. This grand event will be held in Baton Rouge where the queen will be joined by other queens and many Louisiana representatives and dignitaries.
Another requirement would be to attend the annual Louisiana Association of Fairs and Festivals convention which will be held in Baton Rouge.
If by some chance the parents of the new queen should move from the area, the queen must maintain an area residence during the term of her reign. The queen must be single and must remain so during the year she represents the festival.
In the event the queen should marry or something may cause her not to be able to represent the festival, the festival shall consider the crown vacated and all privileges and duties of the queen shall revert to one of the crown princesses, at the festival’s choice.
The young lady chosen to represent the festival must relinquish all other beauty titles, other than high school or college, and as a festival queen may not enter any beauty contest her year as queen. She must conform to all festival regulations as queen and must not conduct herself in any manner other than that befitting of a queen.
The 84th coronation and ball will be held at 7 p.m. Aug. 24 at the Morgan City Municipal Auditorium.
Information and applications may be obtained by calling the festival office at 985-385-0703, emailing director@shrimpandpetroleum.org or request may be made to P.O. Box 103, Morgan City, LA 70381.
Deadline for submitting applications to the festival office is 2:30 p.m. May 30.