S&P Festival seeks queen applications

The Louisiana Shrimp and Petroleum Festival and Fair Association and the Past Queen’s Club has announced its search of that special young woman to carry on the tradition of representing the Louisiana Shrimp and Petroleum Festival, oldest state chartered harvest festival in Louisiana. The young woman will be an ambassador for the Tri-City area and will represent the 79th festival, according to the association.
According to the organizations, all candidates must be at least 18 years of age and not more than 23 years of age by Jan. 1, 2015. Candidates and their parents shall be residents of east St. Mary Parish, lower St. Martin or Assumption parishes.
Each candidate should have attended at least their junior and senior year in an east St. Mary Parish high school. Candidates shall be high school graduates by not less than one year, and shall never have been married, pregnant or given birth to a child. The queen must remain single during the year she represents the festival.
The queen will travel statewide promoting the festival and Morgan City. She will be required to attend 11 festivals selected by the board. The new queen is encouraged to attend, when possible, all other festivals and any city functions to which she is invited, according to the association. Travel and miscellaneous expenses are paid by the festival.
Other stipulations of the association are that the queen must abide by all rules and regulations of her host festival while attending as representative of the Louisiana Shrimp and Petroleum Festival. She will also be required to attend the Mystick Krewe of Louisianians Mardi Gras Ball in Washington, D.C., and the annual Louisiana Association of Fairs and Festivals convention which will be held in Baton Rouge.
Before embarking on her trip to Washington, D.C., she will be honored at a luncheon hosted by the governor and first lady of Louisiana in Baton Rouge where the queen will be joined by other queens and many Louisiana representatives and dignitaries.
If the parents of the new queen should move from the area, the queen must maintain an area residence during the term of her reign, the association said. In the event the queen should marry or something may cause her not to be able to represent the festival, the festival shall consider the crown vacated and all privileges and duties of the queen shall revert to one of the crown princesses, at the festival’s choice.
The young woman chosen as queen must relinquish all other beauty titles, other than high school or college and as a festival queen may not enter any beauty contest her year as queen. She must conform to all festival regulations as queen and must not conduct herself in any manner other than that befitting of a queen.
The coronation and ball will be held at 7 p.m. Aug. 23 at the Morgan City Municipal Auditorium. Information and applications may be obtained by calling the festival office at 985-385-0703 or request may be made to P.O. Box 103, Morgan City, La. 70380. The deadline for submitting applications to the festival office is May 31.