So you’re a festival queen at the end of your yearlong reign, about to turn over the tiara – and you tell the audience about your fondest memories:
Yes, as reported here before, the Hi-Yu float has needed help for a while, and even that will be a fond memory for good-humored Sivona Lingle. Last year, she was the only candidate for the senior court in the Miss West Seattle Hi-Yu Scholarship Program, and therefore has served the past year as a one-woman senior court. Last night, quite a different scenario – she crowned her successor, and two princesses, from a field of five candidates, during a high-spirited event in the expansive (and warm!) sanctuary of Grace Community Church. Watch video of all three crowning moments – and a few other highlights, including the Talent Award-winning performance – as our story continues just ahead:
This was our first time covering the coronation event (our first bulletin is here), so we showed up with video cameras, laptop to publish the big news as soon as the queen was announced, and curiosity about what the evening would bring.
Miss West Seattle Hi-Yu is a Seafair-sanctioned scholarship pageant — the queen receives $2,000 scholarship money, the two princesses $1,000 each — and much of the judging is done in separate sessions before this gala event arrives. However, some traditional pageant features were saved for this night, including the talent competition. Lauren Vanderpool won the talent award for a truly beautiful piano performance:
Miss Hi-Yu from two years ago, Trisha Thompson, who is representing West Seattle Hi-Yu in Miss Seafair this year (as Sivona will do next year, and Margo the year after that), showed a charcoal creation of Seafair scenes, while talking about West Seattle – here’s a photo of Trisha with her creation:
She also shared some insightful words about West Seattle: “There’s a bridge,” Trisha said. “You don’t just pass through here. If you’re here, you’re meant to be here.”
Tim Winston, Hi-Yu Festival president, would likely agree. His speech last night reminded those in attendance that there are more than a few things that are special about West Seattle’s own summer festival – not the least of which is the fact that ours is the last Seattle neighborhood with a community float – and a campaign lies ahead to raise the $30-$40K that’ll be needed to get something that’ll run it closer to trouble-free for years to come. He also talked about changes and improvements in Hi-Yu this year, starting at the beginning of the year when he gave the organization a challenge:
Not long after his speech – finally, the big moments. From five candidates – two princesses, one queen. First princess announcement (the emcee you hear off-camera was Tiger Budbill):
With the announcement of Katie Tarabochia as a princess, that left four young ladies onstage, till the next one was revealed:
Alicia Watanabe — who also won the Technology Award — is a UW student looking ahead to a career in medicine. Her selection left three candidates on stage (L to R, you’ll see Margo Femiano, Lauren Vanderpool, Grace Johnson) – no drum roll, just anticipation, till Tim Winston made the announcement:
2008-2009 Miss West Seattle Hi-Yu Margo Femiano is a recent graduate of both Chief Sealth High School (as class president) and South Seattle Community College (with an AA degree through the Running Start program). At Sealth, her activities also included the Robotics Club and captaining the softball team; her high-school alma mater figured into part of her answer to the question “Why do you want to be Miss West Seattle Hi-Yu?” onstage last night:
Coming up for the Hi-Yu courts (we showed you the Junior Court coronation on Friday) and volunteers, the Seafair Torchlight Parade downtown this Saturday night, as well as several other community parades — then, as Tim Winston said, just a short window of time to do more brainstorming and planning for next year. We’ll let you know when there’s more information on how you can help with the float’s future – rather striking that West Seattle is the last neighborhood in the city that still has a community float.
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