PORT TOWNSEND — When Krista Hathaway and Briel Kilham were in middle school, they were selected to played on a traveling softball team called the Crushers.
Krista played first base. Briel played third base and pitched in relief.
The Crushers didn’t win any trophies, the girls said, but it was fun traveling around the state to play other teams.
Now teenagers, Krista and Briel will be traveling together around the state again this year, waving from a parade float instead of tagging out runners.
On Sunday, the two were presented as candidates for the 2012 Rhody Festival royalty at a tea at Lehani’s Deli and Coffee in downtown Port Townsend.
On March 3, one will be chosen as queen and one as princess at the coronation ceremony at Chimacum Grange.
The theme of this year’s May 12-20 festival is “Spring into Rhody,” which opens up possibilities beyond the traditional bloom.
“We’re basically focusing on a lot of different flowers,” said Melanie Bozak, co-president of this year’s festival, of the direction the theme might take.
Both of this year’s candidates are local blooms with deep roots in Jefferson County.
Briel, a senior at Port Townsend High School, is the daughter of Toby and Amy Kilham, and granddaughter of Sheryl Coyote, all PTHS graduates.
Krista, a Chimacum High School junior who lives in Port Ludlow, is the daughter of Jeff and Sabrina Hathaway, who graduated from CHS in 1981 and 1985, respectively.
Krista’s cousin, Jaime Arthur, was Rhododendron queen in 1995.
“She said it was such a great experience,” Krista said of her reason for applying.
Briel announced her candidacy for Rhododendron Festival queen when she was 5 years old.
It was at the kindergarten graduation ceremony, during which Steve Finch, Grant Street School principal, presents each graduate with a diploma and asks: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
“I said ‘Rhododendron queen,’” Briel said.
“Another girl said the same thing as me, and I got really mad.”
With two candidates, however, the rivalry is irrelevant: both are assured a tiara and a title.
The main difference is the queen usually receives a $1,500 scholarship and the princess one worth $1,000.
The scholarships are great seed money for the contestants’ futures.
Emma King, the reigning 2011 Rhododendron Festival queen, said she is planning to major in pre-med at a California or Washington university, then attend dentistry school.
Reigning Princess Abigail Green plans to major in art at the University of Washington or Washington State University.
Princess Carley Lundgren said she plans to be a veterinary technician.
All three girls are augmenting their college funds by working — Emma at Papa Murphy’s, Abigail at Goodwill and Lundgren at Seaport Landing.
In addition to playing varsity sports and maintaining a 3.9 grade-point average, Krista is junior class president and works on-call for a Port Ludlow investment firm.
Briel works at the Public House grill and for the past six years has taken dance lessons at O’Meara Studio.
The two former teammates will kick off their candidacies for Rhody queen this week with appearances before local Soroptimist and Kiwanis clubs, where each will give a speech and be judged on her poise and presentation.
The girls also earn points by selling festival pins. Their points are combined with scores of their talent presentation and judges’ interview at the March 3 coronation program, which starts at 5 p.m. at the Chimacum Grange hall.
Those early days on the Crushers have paid off for Krista, who at Chimacum High plays varsity volleyball and basketball, was named all-district in softball her freshman year.
The school softball team always goes to district playoffs, she said, but unfortunately, this year’s tournament is on May 19, the day of the Rhody Festival Grand Parade.
So to be fair to the team, she will go out for track instead, and hope that her events at the district meet — shot put, javelin and discus — fall on another day.
“If they don’t, I’ll be in the parade,” she said.
Looking back at their reign, the three departing royalty said the Olympia parade stood out — they waited on the float in the rain for three hours under a tent of umbrellas, trying to keep their skirts dry.
“It was awful — but it was one of the funnest parades,” Green said. “It did stop raining.”
Rhody organizers have boosted the line-up of events and volunteers for this year’s festival, but are looking for more people to help.
For information, contact Christie Hensley at 360-301-0783, or Bozak, 360-531-1329, or email rhodyfest@gmail.com.
The festival website is www.rhodyfest.org.
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Freelance reporter-columnist Jennifer Jackson can be reached at jjackson@olypen.com.
