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Cherry Blossom Festival Information
and
Princess Application

Each spring, Washington, DC celebrates the National Cherry Blossom Festival with events sponsored by several organizations, including the National Conference of State Societies (NCSS). Since 1948, the NCSS has been the sponsoring organization for the Cherry Blossom Festival Princesses who represent their State/Territory/Country during Festival activities. Since that time, some 2,500 young ladies have participated in this popular and widely respected program. In 1996, the Embassy community was invited to participate as Princess Partners and new international bonds of friendship are being formed through the Princess program. All Princesses participate in an exciting week of activities culminating in the National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade, one of Washington's largest and most popular spectator events.

Neither a beauty pageant or a talent competition, the Festival is a unique opportunity for a young Maine woman to represent Maine and the Society. Applicants must be at least 19 years old but not have reached her 25th birthday prior to the end of the festival, either a Maine native or the daughter, granddaughter, sister or niece of a Maine Native or have other strong Maine connections, at least a high school graduate, have never been married and have no children, and must be knowledgeable about Maine and available for the entire festival week (April 8 - 14, 2007).

The Maine princess will join other young women representing their states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and the American Virgin Islands. During the Festival, the Princesses will be guests of the Japanese Ambassador at an Embassy tea; welcome Japan’s Cherry Blossom Festival Queen as well as the princesses of other countries; tour the White House and the US Capitol; visit charities supported by the Festival; participate in ceremonies at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington Cemetery and at the Vietnam Memorial; be escorted by a member of Congress from their state as they are introduced to attendees at a Congressional Reception; serve as models in the fashion show which is a traditional feature of the Festival luncheon; be featured in a nationally televised parade on Constitution Avenue; and be guests at the Festival Gala and Ball where one princess will be selected as the Festival Queen (an honor shared by three Maine princesses in past years) and travel to Japan to participate in that nation’s Cherry Blossom Festival.

National Conference of State Societies
Visit the National Conference of State Societies for more Festival Information or for Festival History.

Official Website of the National Cherry Blossom Festival - Washington, DC

Please contact the Maine State Society at the address below for an application.

COMPLETED APPLICATIONS AND REQUIRED SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS MUST BE RECEIVED
BY THE SOCIETY NOT LATER THAN DECEMBER 19, 2008.

Past Maine Cherrry Blossom Princesses and their hometowns and counties:

1948 Joan M. Lovering Boos, Calais (Washington)	1978 Mary Delma Day Baird, Kennebunk (York)
1949 Patricia Sterling Jabine, Peaks Island (Cumberland)	1979 Martha Muskie, Waterville (Kennebec)
1950 Joyce Peters Fessenden, Augusta (Kennebec)	1980 Cynthia Ann Brown Czifra, Fort Kent (Aroostook)
1951 Ann Batchelder Moody, Gorham (Cumberland)	1981 Aurilla Thibodeau Fusco, Fort Kent (Aroostook)
1952 Joan Carol Johnson Mercer, Bucksport (Hancock)	1982 Kimberly Hinds-Ward Reiter, Bangor (Penobscot)
1953 Elizabeth Ann Blanchard Cassidy, Westbrook (Cumberland)	1983 Hannah Rowe Christopher, Portland (Cumberland)
1954 Mary Ellen St. John, Old Town (Penobscot)	1984 Jean Carol Libby Bunker, Orrington (Penobscot)
1955* Jeanine Raymond, Lewiston (Androscoggin)	1985 Mary M. Thompson Howard, Portland (Cumberland)
1956 Janice E. Vaughan, Waterville (Kennebec)	1986 Julliette L. Apicella, Saco (York)
1957 Katherine L. Joly Devine, Waterville (Kennebec)	1987 Nancy L. Chapman Foerster, Orono (Penobscot)
1958* Carolyn Drigotas, Auburn (Androscoggin)	1988 Dana Steele, Standish (Cumberland)
1959 Jean Shirley Watson, Rumford (Oxford)	1989 Merrill Slaven Blache, Blue Hill (Hancock)
1960 Terry Jane Bowden, Brewer (Penobscot)	1990* Kelley Riordan Horowitz, Livermore Falls (Androscoggin)
1961 Terry Ann Poulin Gruener, Waterville (Kennebec)	1991 Amy Archibald Hittle, Eastport (Washington)
1962 Monalee Smith Watson, Rumford (Oxford)	1992 Christina Strong, Thomaston (Knox)
1963 Sarah C. Allen Crandell, Skowhegan (Somerset)	1993 Kirsten Richardson, Patten (Penobscot)
1964 Sue Weatherbee Adams, Bangor (Penobscot)	1994 Tammy Ellen Dube Rabida, Biddeford (York)
1965 Sandra Howatt, Farmington (Franklin)	1995 Karen Weeks, Bremen (Lincoln)
1966 Teresa Loraine Day Lynch, Kennebunk (York)	1996 Caitlin M. Stedman, Bath (Sagadahoc)
1967 Linda Nickless Byram, Unity (Waldo)	1997 Shannon L. Richardson, Auburn (Androscoggin)
1968 Ruth Ann Reed Duford, Fort Fairfield (Aroostook)	1998 Constance Campbell Thomas Genne, Rockland (Knox)
1969 Kirsten Elizabeth Bell Albair, Caribou (Aroostook)	1999 Laura Hoovler Mitchell, Old Town (Penobscot)
1970 Marcia Pearson Sendax, Bangor (Penobscot)	2000 Elizabeth Capone-Newton, Auburn (Androscoggin)
1971 Donna Larrabee Palmer, Portland (Cumberland)	2001 Gabrielle Russell, Auburn (Androscoggin)
1972 Jane Hews Lockhart, Presque Isle (Aroostook)	2002 Margo B. Sullivan, Portland (Cumberland)
1973 Cynthia Ann Albert, Augusta (Kennebec)	2003 Elizabeth Edgecomb, Limestone (Aroostook)
1974 Elizabeth J. Nutting Hood, Saco (York)	2004 Suzanne R. Houle, Biddeford (York)
1975 Carolyn Edgecomb Aldwell, Limestone (Aroostook)	2005 Sarah C. Gamble, Bethel, (Oxford)
1976 Deborah Anderson Berg, Limestone (Aroostook)	2006 Melissa C. Danforth, North Berwick (York)
1977 Denise Overton Magidson, Fort Kent (Aroostook)	2007 Megan Shannon-Winterson, Kennebunkport (York)
	2008* Emily B. Little, Mount Desert (Hancock)

* Selected as the National Cherry Blossom Festival Queen

For Images of the 2007 Festival taken by Carl Bouchard