Penticton Peach Festival is calling all Penticton royalty.
The festival plans to celebrate its 75th anniversary with all of the past Penticton Peachfest royalty in 2022.
Organizing the reunion is 2000’s Miss Penticton, Jessica Okayama, who was the 53rd Miss Penticton.
The reunion won’t take place until 2022, but the festival is looking to confirm returning royalty as soon as possible in order to make all of the necessary arrangements.
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Penticton Peach Festival, Okayama and Okayama’s mother Kerry Younie are organizing the reunion, which is wholly separate from the Miss Penticton Pageant.
“This is a celebration of 75 years of Peachfest, and we thought one fun way to celebrate would be to bring back all the past royalty.”
Okayama herself looks back fondly on her time as Miss Penticton, participating in over 50 parades, and even travelling to Penticton’s sister-city in Japan.
“They do a wine-festival there,” said Okayama. “Hence why they’re our sister city, they’re also a wine-producing area.”
So far there have been a number of past royalty who have expressed their interest in coming back from where their lives have taken them.
“We’ve had about 20 royalty contact me who are interested,” said Okayama. “One woman contacted me, her sister was royalty in the 60s and she’s now living in England, and she’s interested in coming.”
The royalty would take part in the Peachfest parade, and Okayama noted that they are also looking for volunteers with convertibles to drive the royalty, with their names and the years they were Miss Penticton or a Princess displayed on a sticker on their ride.
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Following the parade would be a banquet dinner with live music, that would be free for all of the former royalty. Tickets for other guests are expected to be $75.
Royalty are asked to contact Okayama at peachfestroyalty75@yahoo.com with their name and the year they were royalty.
Once royalty are confirmed, the next step will be booking blocks of hotel rooms for those who require accommodation.
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