SEQUIM — Young royalty, pioneers and two grand marshals will appear together at 5 p.m. Saturday to celebrate spring and the Sequim Irrigation Festival season.
It’s the Kickoff Dinner at 7 Cedars Casino’s Club Seven room, and along with introductions of the festival dignitaries, the event features a live auction of festival memorabilia, a silent auction of gifts donated by local businesses, a gourmet feast and the first chance to see the official festival lapel pin.
The newly crowned queen — and winner of the Miss Congeniality award at the March 6 Irrigation Festival Pageant — will grace the dinner with her presence, along with the rest of the court.
Sixteen-year-old Fallon Schneider is to be surrounded by three princesses: Sierra Shelden, 16, Ashley Fuentes, 18, and Sarah Berkes, 17.
This being the 115th annual Irrigation Festival, the theme is “115 years of pioneers,” and the grand pioneers are Dick Shaw and Irene Zeman Danforth, while the honorary pioneers are Art Boyd and Virginia Duncan Brownfield Dickinson.
Those who were born and lived most of their lives here may be named grand pioneers, while the honoraries are those who have lived in Sequim for 40 years or longer.
Elaine and Robert Caldwell, devoted members of Friends of the Fields, Olympic Theatre Arts and many other Sequim organizations, are the grand marshals of the Irrigation Festival Grand Parade, which will flow through downtown May 8.
Many think of the festival as something that happens just in May, chairman Joe Borden said this week.
But “it’s now,” he said.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladaily news.com.