It was an evening steeped in tradition and embellished with the usual fanfare on Thursday as the Shenandoah Apple Blossom Queen’s Dinner unfolded at Millwood Station Banquet Hall.
Attendee attire was festive and fabulous.
The ever-impressive two-foot apple pie sat ready to be devoured.
And Queen Shenandoah-designate XCIX Annabelle Jayne Park, accompanied by her court, escorted by Shenandoah University’s Drew Tyson and flanked by cadets from Randolph Macon Academy, made her grand entrance.
In other words, a very special evening here in the land of pink and green, or so the song goes.
The dinner is, according to event co-chair Kelly Wolfe, a way for the civic clubs of Winchester and Frederick County to welcome the festival’s Queen to Winchester with a burst of “pomp, circumstance and pageantry.”
Thursday’s dinner was sponsored by The Village at Orchard Ridge and presented by F&M Bank.
Winchester Mayor Les Veach and Frederick County Board of Supervisors Chair John Jewell, among others, bestowed gifts upon Park, including a bracelet, a piece of art, a silver apple and a Henkel-Harris jewelry box, a version of which has been presented since 1974.
The Henkel-Harris furniture company is now owned by the Gum family, who have continued the tradition and who presented Park with the box on Thursday.
“Henkel-Harris makes beautiful, handcrafted furniture,” said event co-chair Marcy Obenchain Keller. “So it is a quite valuable piece of furniture, and I think it’s very coveted. … It’s made here in Winchester, and it’s known all across the world. So it’s very special for us to have that.”
In that vein, the Queen’s Dinner is truly a community affair, as evidenced by the amount of sponsors, organizers and volunteers credited with making it a success on Thursday.
Wolfe said that getting to work with friends and collaborators is what makes being part of the event fun.
“The people we put it on with are friendly,” she said. “… That really is my favorite part.”
Of course, one of the most visible community contributions is the giant apple pie, which is typically baked by students at Timber Ridge School and, this year, was decorated by Carter Story of the local business Sugar Diva.
“I hope it tastes as good as it looks,” said Jim Barretta, a former Timber Ridge teacher and administrator who leads the students in making the pie, which is then baked at Claudio’s Pizzeria.
The pie holds a special meaning for Barretta and his family as well. His sister-in-law, Ruth, he said, adored the Queen’s Dinner.
Ruth has since passed, and in her honor, a small motif bearing her initials is included in the pie’s decorations each year.
“It’s just great,” Barretta said. “She was a great person, left us too soon, and I know she’s looking down.”
As part of her royal duties, Park got to cut into the pie and have the first taste.
She received well-wishes and words of gratitude from public and event officials to carry with her as she prepares for her reign. Her coronations is at 1:30 p.m. Friday at John Handley High School.