Festival queen candidates donate 1,900 pounds of food

A group of the candidates for the title of Greater Alliance Carnation Festival queen helped complete a traditional event in the runup to the July 27 pageant.

On June 20, eight of the 16 candidates for the title delivered 1,920 pounds of food to Alliance Community Pantry. The women had collected the food, and then stayed to volunteer packing bags of food for the pantry’s clients.

2023 queen crowned: Stella Blake, 17 crowned 2023 Greater Alliance Carnation Festival queen

As part of the pageant, the young women competing for the title and to fill out the queen’s court collect food donations from their friends and family, and the woman who donates the most food is recognized during the pageant.

Since the queen candidates started the competition in 2011, they have donated 38,280 pounds of food.

Photo gallery: Carnation Festival queen pageant: July 29, 2023

Queen candidates participating in the event at the pantry were Contestant No. 1, Lilian Ronske, representing Tannenhauf Golf Club; No. 3, Lyrical Andrews, representing Nails by Bailee; No. 4, Chloe Cantwell, representing Hegg’s Confectionary; No. 6, Kaitlyn Waite, representing White Physical Therapy; No. 7, Ariana Aldridge, representing Tanner Real Estate; No. 8, Oneal Everett, representing A-Town Auto Worx: No. 10, Jayda Patrick, representing The Butler’s Touch Carpet Cleaning; No. 11, Kacie Bench, representing Bench Electric; No. 13, Isabella Hall, representing Manhattan Cleaning Service; No. 15, Sophia Thomas, representing Dean Funeral Home; and No. 16, Chloe Jordan, representing Chadz Customz.

After delivering their food, candidates helped out bagging food that will be passed out to clients Monday afternoon.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Carnation Festival queen hopefuls donate food to Alliance pantry