For over six decades, young women have competed to be the queen of Western Weekend, a title that comes with a coronation at a dance, opening the livestock show, appearing in the parade and securing a cash scholarship.
But this year is different: there will be no queen.
Interest has flagged in recent years; last year, one girl ran for the role. So the Lions Club, which has long organized Western Weekend, has decided that a young person—male or female—will be named “Junior Grand Marshal.”
The new title, which references the position that presides over the parade, still has big perks. The scholarship stands, but the new title sheds gender, royalty and agricultural heritage in favor of a focus on community service.
Madeline Hope, a member of the Lions Club, and Rhonda Kutter, a local 4-H leader, have been working on the switch, with the help of long-time queen contest coordinator Debbie Rocca and Tomales High School teacher Bill Costanzo.
They said the reasons for participation problems have varied. They largely cite a lack of outreach, but also said lower enrollment in 4-H and Future Farmers of America may be contributing to the problem. They also expressed concern about the fairness of the contest, since it may be more difficult for teens living on remote ranches or with fewer connections to sell tickets.
Ms. Rocca, a former queen, said participation has ebbed and flowed; one year, in the 80s, no one ran. Some girls, she went on, didn’t want to run against their friends. “You just never know,” she said.
The Lions Club considered scrapping the whole contest, but Ms. Kutter wanted to salvage it. “I didn’t want it to stop,” she said.
In key ways the program will remain the same. Contestants will sell raffle tickets and keep a significant chunk of the sales for a scholarship; in the past that’s typically been a quarter of sales. The winner will still appear at the Saturday night barn dance, where he or she will receive a trophy, and in the Sunday parade. And where the queen appeared at the following year’s dance to hand off the crown, the junior grand marshal is expected to attend next year’s festivities to deliver the trophy.
As long as applicants sell a minimum number of tickets and applications are deemed satisfactory, runners-up will be named “Deputy Junior Grand Marshals,” receive proceeds and be expected to participate in the parade.
Yet in past decades, the contest has been fairly straightforward: whoever sells the most tickets becomes queen. But in selecting a junior grand marshal, ticket sales will be just one factor. The Lions Club will also interview contestants and require an application that inquires about community service. They hope that by revamping the title, they can revive interest—and be more equitable.
“There is an important need to be inclusive of men and women in a recognition program,” Ms. Hope said. “The Lions Club funds the Tomales Bay Youth Center, so we should have a program that recognizes men and women. In part it’s been a popularity contest… We are trying to change the focus of the recipients.”
The queen contest began in 1949, the brainchild of Scotty Mendoza and Josephine Morton. That year the local branch of the Companions of the Forest of America, a women’s group, organized a carnival and selected a queen.
Ms. Mendoza, who died in 2008, told the Light in 2005 that the competition and accompanying dance was a way of raising money for the local 4-H Club.
But the following year, in 1950, the women joined up with the Lions Club and the carnival turned into the Junior Livestock Show and Parade, a celebration of youth active in farming and ranching. There were 4-H exhibits, livestock judging, a dance and a parade.
The queen was an important part of the festivities. In the lead-up to the weekend, the Light would report weekly vote tallies (eventually in the form of raffle tickets) for each contestant. In the early years there were two rounds of voting, since at that time only one girl per town could run for a queen. Roughly half a dozen or more teens—the ages ranges shifted over the years—would compete.
The winner was named “Queen of the West Marin Junior Livestock Show” and the runners-up comprised her court as her “princesses” or attendants. Their pictures—often featuring the queen riding a horse—would run in the paper.
The prize always included a cash scholarship, though additional perks varied. For some years in the 60s and 70s, the winner snagged a trip to Disneyland, a dress for the coronation and a dinner in San Francisco.
But times changed.
The livestock show, for instance, is now an exhibition of smaller animals like chickens and rabbits, while the big livestock appear as part of a petting zoo.
The agricultural hook for the queen has also attenuated, said Melinda Borello, the queen in 2009. (At $5 a pop, she sold $6,000 worth of tickets—the highest ever at the time, though two years later she was out done by Alyssa Tanner, who topped $7,000.)
Ms. Borello, whose own mother was a Western Weekend princess, said that when she was a young girl in 4-H, the title seemed more closely tied to the agricultural community than it did when she herself ran. “In the past, it was more associated with 4-H and F.F.A., like a dairy queen… When I ran it was already kind of distant,” she said.
The reasons for running vary; some are more interested in the scholarship than in the crown or riding in the parade.
But Ms. Borello, who now lives in Point Reyes Station and works as a math teacher over the hill, said she enjoyed being queen. “I felt like I was representing the community. I went door-to-door selling tickets… it was a good experience to see who was in town that I didn’t already know.”
After hearing the news that there would no longer be a crown, she said, “In a way I’m sad there won’t be a queen. But we are moving away from agricultural community here. It’s changing.”
How teens—boys and girls—will respond to the new title is hard to say, said Ms. Kutter, who herself is still making the linguistic switch, sometimes accidentally using the royal title. But the only way to know, she went on, is to try.
Applications for Junior Grand Marshal are available at tbyclounge.org, from the Tomales Bay Youth Center or from Tomales High School teacher Bill Costanzo. Tickets also available from the youth center, Tomales High and from Debbie Rocca. For more information, call the youth center at (415) 446.8587.