By Gary Meyer and Sabrina Stolting

Emily Brennan of Cuddy Valley, newly graduated from Frazier Mountain High School, and on her way to California State University at Northridge to study Biochemistry, was crowned 2008 Fiesta Days Queen on Saturday, July 19.

The crown was placed by 2007 Queen Jessie Corral, now attending University of California at Irvine. Queen Emily will begin to perform her royal duties riding her horse Dusty sidesaddle, dressed in her finest Fiesta Queen regalia, at this year’s Fiesta Days Parade, Saturday, Aug. 2 at 10 a.m. in Frazier Park.

Fiesta Days Raffle, Rides

The always-popular Carnival ride booklets ($15 for 10 tickets) are available at Ace, Alpine Lumber and Mountain Top Video.

Tickets for the 41st annual Fiesta Days drawing are now on sale at Mountain Top Video. Proceeds support Meals on Wheels and other important mountain benefits

Stiff Competition for Queen

Brennan’s goal is to attend graduate school at U.C. Davis to become a veterinarian. She said she wants to encourage everyone to “keep trying, it took me three years to get Queen and if you keep trying, you can do anything you want to.”

As this year’s Queen Coordinator Julia Jens said at the outset, “The competition was very stiff.” Judging the contest this year were Julia Jens, Tammie Goddard and Jessie Corral.

For her talent offering, Emily impressed the judges with an odd yet original monologue “Run Free” about penguins, written by Anastasia Page.

Emily has been an involved Girl Scout in the community for six years. She spends her free time riding her horse, Kyanne, and indulging in her passion for photography. Emily won Most Valuable Player from the FMHS Robotics team this year.

First Runner Up for Fiesta Queen was Ashley Schnabel, whose talent was photography. Five contestants vied for the coveted crown, including Brooke Wood, Crystal Pineda and Cheyenne Hirst.

This is part of the July 25, 2008 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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