With queen candidates Haley Davis and Charley Seddon in front, competition organizers and team managers Mikki Angerman, Megan Talburt, Michelle Jenkins, Brooke Bartz, Scott Seddon and Cyni Waddington get ready to kick off the run-up to July 4. Food and ticket sales begin June 1 and go on throughout the month.
A pair of high schoolers announced plans to run for the crown in this year's Fourth of July Royalty competition.
Each spring the competition raises funds for Wrangell's Independence Day celebrations, with candidates holding fundraisers and selling tickets. Last year's competition between Kyla Teat and Alex Angerman broke records, with the pair selling 126,408 tickets.
Thirty percent of what contestants raise goes back to them as a scholarship, helping to pay for college or some other form of higher education. A percentage also goes back to the candidates' campaign managers, usually a parent, sibling or family friend.
Vying to be queen this year are school junior Charley Seddon and senior classman Haley Davis.
A resident of Wrangell for 12 years, after graduating this summer Davis will be going into the medical field, and plans to enlist in the Army.
"I think I want to go into nursing and more into medicine. It's something I'm passionate about doing," she explained. "I love doing trauma, I just love medicine. I love learning how to take care of people, and different things that can happen, and I can see myself doing it for the rest of my life."
Eventually she wants to take those skills and pursue a career as an Army medic.
Though busy this year with sports and her final semester of classes, Davis explained she wanted to run in the royalty competition to help pay back her community.
"The community has played a huge role – the whole time that I've lived here, they've helped out tremendously. With sports – when my parents passed away – they helped with everything. Without them I wouldn't have been able to go out on sports trips and do everything I like to do. I think it'd be right to give back," she said. "That's my end message to everyone, thank you to absolutely everyone for all the support they will be giving and have gave."
Assisted by teacher Michelle Jenkins as her food manager and Megan Talburt as ticket manager, Davis plans to hold a car wash, a carnival for area children, and of course the queen competition food booth at the pavilion on Front Street.
"We're going to take a little bit of a healthier route with our menu," Jenkins explained.
Dishes like Indian tacos will be interspersed with specials put on by different community members, she explained. For instance, Shawn Curley will be making his halibut tacos and Bill Privett his ribs.
"At first we weren't going to do a full menu, but we kept building on it and building on it," said Jenkins.
"It's going to be a ton of fun," said Davis.
Seddon and her family have lived in Wrangell for the past two years, coming from Missouri.
"It was probably the greatest thing that we've done for our family," she commented. "I've never noticed how a community can be so involved. It's with sports, academics, everything. The community's just there to help out."
During her time here she has participated in the volleyball, basketball and cheerleading programs, and has been taking online courses ahead of college. Seddon's eventual plan is to pursue a career in medicine.
"I'm running because I want to raise money for my college fund," she explained. "I'm taking medical terminology and health sciences – those are online classes. And then I'm taking (Certified Nursing Assistant) classes next year, as I'm a senior." She will continue to take courses over the summer as well, to get a jump start on the rigors of medical school. "That's a big task."
For her fundraising effort, she will be assisted by sister Brooke Bartz as ticket manager, and father Scott Seddon as food manager.
"I plan to hit the streets every day and sell tickets," the candidate explained. "And be a happy face at the booth every day."
The Seddon booth will feature a number of breakfasts through the week, but will also be bringing a southern flavor to its dinner items.
"We're going to do a lot of barbecued smoke meats," Bartz explained.
"We're doing a lot of ribs, pulled porks, and smoked chickens, and that kind of stuff," Scott Seddon said. "Tenderloin sandwiches." The booth will also be slinging a number of local favorites, such as haystacks, chili dogs and fry bread. "We have the deep fryer," he added.
"We're going to do at least one gun raffle," Seddon said.
At either food booth, every $3 spent on food translates into a ticket. Tickets collected are then entered into a drawing on July 4 itself. Chamber of Commerce director Cyni Crary explained that the stakes have risen this year, due to last year's record-breaking showing. Drawing prizes will be for $5,000, $4,000, $3,000 and $2,000, an addition of $5,000 overall more than last year.
The ticket-selling season begins June 1, and ends July 3. Queen booths will run through July 1.
"The 31st of May we're doing a kickoff party at the Elks," added Mikki Angerman, who is coordinating the competition for the Chamber.
Keep an eye on the Chamber website at http://www.wrangellchamber.org for updates and menu schedules, or look for Seddon and Davis' competition pages on Facebook.
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