Your new Miss West Seattle Hi-Yu, just crowned: Kelsey Bills

(All photos by Cliff DesPeaux; here, Queen Kelsey is in red dress at center, Princess Victoria two to the left of her in blue, Princess Rosemarie two to the right of her in aqua)
ORIGINAL 9:32 PM REPORT: Just crowned onstage at the West Seattle High School Theater: Queen Kelsey Bills and Princesses Victoria Ferrulli and Rosemarie Unite. (added – video of the announcements)

(All video by Tracy Record)
The two-and-a-half-hour pageant was the culmination of several judging sessions – the performance and speaking rounds tonight counted for 25 percent of the score. But the program featured much more, including performances by the outgoing Senior Court and Junior Court members, greetings from visiting past Hi-Yu royalty (including Funky Jane’s owner Angela Nichols, whose daughter Taylor Nichols is the newly crowned Junior Court Queen, 20 years after Angela was on the Senior Court):

The audience also heard from the current Miss Seafair (‘for five more days!” she smiled) and Margo Femiano, the 2008-2009 Miss West Seattle Hi-Yu who’s representing WS in this year’s Miss Seafair program – we’ll find out next Saturday night, before the Torchlight Parade, how she does!

Special scholarship-award winners, revealed just before the Queen and Princesses: Academic Achievement, Community Service, Creative Expression, Miss Congeniality Awards, all went to Victoria Ferrulli; Entrepreneurial and Technology Awards, both to Rosemarie Unite; Director’s Award, Kelsey Porter; Spirit of Hi-Yu and Hi-Yu Alumni Awards, both to Kelsey Bills; Athletic Leadership Award, Melanie Frey.

ADDED: More video, photos and details from the coronation – see it all ahead:

Before they crowned their successors, 2009-2010 Hi-Yu Queen Georgia Mitchell and Princesses Veronica Pupava and Kelly Nealson received flowers from Hi-Yu President Tim Winston, who also shared a few memories:

But let’s backtrack a bit. The coronation program, put together by Tiara Johnson Andress and Auburn Scallon, was full of entertainment, like the outgoing Junior Court’s dance routine to “You Make My Dreams Come True” (which they’d also shown off at the Junior Court coronation a week and a half earlier):

The outgoing Senior Court danced too:

Then there was some outstanding dancing from the candidates. Rosemarie danced a tango, with both solo and partnered passages:

From Kelsey Porter, a dazzling belly dance:

And Victoria, who’s been studying dance for 14 years, choreographed her own jazz routine – since she also won the Creative Expression award, here’s video of her award-winning dance:

Melanie, meantime, sang “Dream a Little Dream on Me” –


For her performance, the queen-to-be chose a classic marching-band tune on the piccolo, which she’s been playing for 8 years, some of that time in the Kennedy High School band, whose uniform she sported:

The other part of the competition that was judged same-night involved asking candidates three questions each – the first two were the same, and predetermined, but then each chose the third from a handful of profferred papers. Here’s how the queen-to-be – a student at the University of Puget Sound (Tacoma) – answered her three:

The judges – Jack Menashe, Annette Champoux, Joe Gong, Rusty Harper and first-time judge Michelle Edwards – finished the scoring, and then while everything was tallied up, there were poignant moments, like royalty and candidates being ceremonially escorted back into the theater.

Finally, the big moment (see the clip toward the top of the story) … the announcement of the three young women who not only became royalty, but also won thousands of dollars in scholarships. After Princesses Rosemarie and Victoria were announced, 2009-2010 Queen Georgia Mitchell crowned her successor Kelsey (as 2009-2010 Junior Court Queen Kailin Jo Alexander Spencer looked on):

Lots of excited photo-taking ensued:

More ahead for the Hi-Yu team: If you go to the Seafair Torchlight Parade downtown this Saturday night, you’ll see them there. And parade season continues on into the fall! Meantime, for the new royalty – while representing West Seattle and having fun, they also can

4 Replies to "Your new Miss West Seattle Hi-Yu, just crowned: Kelsey Bills "

  • 9BEAUTI July 27, 2010 (8:55 am)

    yay! what a SPECTACULAR evening! so proud of all of the young women involved in Hi-Yu. fantastic organization. congratulations to the new senior court!

  • Alicia July 27, 2010 (10:16 am)

    I’m sooo proud to have been a member of the 2009 court! Hi-Yu was my foot in the door to being so much more involved, meeting many great people, and becoming a more responsible and caring adult! Congratulations new court! And to girls that didn’t make the court–Consider trying again! Hard work always pays off! :)

  • Tiara Johnson Andress July 27, 2010 (12:35 pm)

    Incredible coverage, thanks again WSB and social media maven Tracy! What a fantastic photo of Kelsey porter! A giant congrats to our outgoing and new courts, and thanks to all that helped in many ways, I always enjoy producing and directing the show. I’ve been involved with Hi-Yu since being on junior court in 1982, was on senior court in 1998, and am so proud to continue my involvement!

    • WSB July 27, 2010 (12:40 pm)

      Thanks. I just fixed your name :)

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