Fourth royalty candidates unfurled for coming competition

This year's candidates for Wrangell's Fourth of July Royalty competition were announced at the Stikine Inn during a meet and greet Monday.

Three young people will be running during next month's competition, which raises money both for themselves and for the annual Independence Day festivities. The competition stands out from others in recent years with the inclusion of two candidates for king, and for including already-graduated students.

For example, Robbie Marshall graduated from Wrangell High School back in 2014, leaving for University of Alaska Southeast in Juneau.

"I went to college for two and a half years, and I was going towards a mathematics degree," he explained. "But I unfortunately had to come back due to lack of funds. And so this will kind of get me that start money I need to get back into college. End game, I want to be a school teacher, a math teacher."

Graduating from WHS last week, McKinley Bosdell intends to earn an associates degree at Portland Community College, pursuing her bachelors from there.

Her goal by competing this year is "to collect money so I can move down to Oregon and go to college there to be an American Sign Language interpreter. ...I'd like to give back to the community," she added. "It feels like this community has given a lot to me so it just feels right to give back and raise a lot of money for next year's Fourth of July."

Candidate Draven Golding will be turning 19 next week, and is running to raise funds for life's next step.

"I want to run so I can get enough money for my next adventure," he explained. "I don't want to move and worry about a job right away. I want to have some money in case my main plan goes wrong or whatever, and I also want to have some funds for schooling and whatnot. ...I will probably go into community college, because it's just a bit cheaper. I'm thinking about aviation, up in Everett maybe. ... I guess it all depends on how the journey goes. I really want to fly planes in Juneau, or maybe even helicopters. Or maybe even work on them, like in mechanics. I just want to be surrounded by it."

Running food booths throughout the month of June and selling tickets up until the July 4th holiday, the candidates will be competing to see who can raise the most. An additional booth structure was added at the downtown pavilion to accommodate all of the competitors this year, and the participants can expect to put in a lot of hours over the coming five weeks.

They will have help, at least. Marshall's ticket manager will be Katrina Ottesen, while his food manager will be Janell Stutz. Helping run the booth and the advertising will be Greg and Tammi Meissner. And supporting the venture, Marshall's sponsors will include Cabin Café, Grand View Bed & Breakfast, White Enterprises, Breakaway Adventures and the Bay Company.

"We've got a lot of great dinners and lunches kind of planned out. A lot of specials from a lot of locals. We've got a lot of rummage sales planned out, and we'll be doing a lot of events around the summer solstice," he said.

Bosdell will be supported by food manager JoDee Howell, while Michael Howell will be her ticket manager. Bosdell will be sponsored by Harbor House, Dave's Welding and Repair, JP's Welding, John Taylor and Sons, and Jamie and Rolland Howell.

She said there would be "a lot of yummy food, that's for sure. And events, I believe we're going to have a silent auction at the bank towards the end of the month."

Golding would be supported by food manager Shawna Buness, ticket manager Aleisha Mollen, and with advertising by Betsy Golding. His sponsors are Stikine Inn, BW Enterprises, DC Auto-Marine, Buness Electric and the F/V Mandy J.

"We have a few silent auctions at First Bank and possibly other banks," Golding said. "We are going to have a few car washes on Saturday throughout the month of June. Throughout the week, we're going to have like a taco Tuesday kind of thing, and like a healthy Wednesday."

All three candidates maintain support pages on Facebook.