Mountain Laurel Festival

Over Memorial Day weekend Lawrence, Dick and I all headed to Pineville, Kentucky for the annual Mountain Laurel Festival.  The Youngs have always had a connection to Pineville through Dick's grandfather, Robert Edwin (Ed) Samuels.  The Samuels were a prominent family in the community, with Ed being a key part of the local bank, and his wife being the first female member of the board of education there.   His daughter, Florence, grew up there, and Dick grew up visiting the area often.  Each year Pineville hosts the Mountain Laurel Festival, which is part homecoming and part beauty pageant.  For three days the entire city celebrates its heritage, connects with family and friends, and crowns a high school princess and a college aged queen.  Every school in the Commonwealth sends a queen candidate, and she, along with her escort, spends the weekend socializing with the locals and the secret judges.  There are dinners, receptions, concerts, dances, and the entire time you feel like you've stepped back into a more wholesome time in American life.

Our family has actually had several queen candidates throughout the years.  My Aunt Marilyn was a candidate from Lindsey Wilson College back in the fifties, and Dick escorted Mary Lawrence as UofL's candidate around that same time.  Dick's brother Van escorted his future wife Libby as a Centre College candidate, and she was actually crowned queen.  Having heard all the lore surrounding the festival and pageant, it was fun to finally see it up close.

Another Pineville connection is through our Hurstbourne friends, Ed and Jeanie Wilson.  On a side note, I spent a lot of time with Ed and Jeanie as a teenager, having been close friends with their daughter, Lee.  I went on spring break with them and spent lots of time at their house, and it's been fun to reconnect with them at Hurstbourne as "grown ups."  Ed is from Pineville, and he has served on the board of the Mountain Laurel Festival for years, and this last year he encouraged Lawrence to get back to his roots and become a director.  He and Jeanie arranged for us to lodge with them at this year's festival, and we all had a ball at all the events. Lawrence was introduced as a new director, and Dick and Ed shared lots of memories and stories about the area while we were there.  Now that we've been introduced to this wonderful festival I don't know that we'll ever miss one.  We've already made our reservations for next year!  I captured lots of photos on my phone throughout the weekend, but no pictures can ever do justice to how beautiful the crowning ceremony of the queen is.  It's in the outdoor amphitheatre , and it is absolutely gorgeous.  Every little girl's dream!

Here are some memories from the weekend:

No visit to Pineville is complete without
lunch at the Flocoe - all the town's
gossip begins and ends here!

After lunch we perused around the square looking
at all the festival vendors' wares

Heading out to the Queen's reception

The Friday evening princess crowning in the Pineville High School gym

Up bright and early for the community breakfast on Saturday morning

Walking down after the breakfast to find our
spot for the parade

Enjoying drinks on the porch
before the parade

Senator Mitch McConnell starts off the parade

Pineville High Marching Band

Newly crowned high school princess and her court

UofL's candidate with her "L" up

The wonderful southern home we watched the parade from

Dick and Lawrence relax during the parade

The view from the state park lodge

The lovely queen candidates

The crowing of the new queen - from Somerset Community College

What a lovely weekend this was...we all had such a wonderful time, and I was so touched by the hospitality of everyone from Pineville.  They take great pride in carrying on the traditions of this annual festival, and I felt blessed to meet so many nice people.  Definitely will go down as one of my favorite memories of the year!