Royalty named for 30th annual Strawberry Festival

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 2 June 2016 at 12:00 am

Photo by Tom Rivers

ALBION – The 30th anniversary of the Albion Strawberry Festival, set for next week on June 10-11, will again have royalty. The festival committee picked student ambassadors to represent the festival.

The group includes, from left: Prince Garric Winterkorn, King DeClan McCue, Queen Melissa Barnosky, and Princess Ashleigh Mowatt.

To be considered for the royalty, Albion students had to write an essay about this year’s festival theme which celebrates the historic Erie Canal. The students wrote how the canal gave birth to many canal towns, including Albion, which was originally called Newport. The canal was built from 1817-1825 in one of the country’s biggest public works projects ever. The ease of transporting goods turned New York into the Empire State, Barnosky wrote in her essay.

The royalty will be included in the parade at 10 a.m. on June 11. They will also help drop the plastic turtles into the canal during the Turtle Race at 2 p.m. on June 11.

For more on the festival, click here.