SEQUIM – Last Saturday, Sequim Irrigation Festival princess Carolina Garcia waved and beamed her way through the Hoquiam Loggers Playday parade – the 14th procession in which the Sequim float has appeared in – and watched as a fire destroyed the float on the way home.
She returned late Saturday to her hometown to get ready for another week at Peninsula College, where she’s taking five classes as a Running Start student.
She also continued preparing for her birthday – and a major holiday.
On Sunday, Garcia will turn 17 amid a party put on by several Sequim families.
Sept. 16 is Mexican Independence Day, and it’s “like the Fourth of July,” Garcia said.
“It’s bigger than Cinco de Mayo.”
No one was hurt when the Sequim Irrigation Festival float was destroyed in a fire while it was parked in the day-use section of Dosewallips State Park.
The drivers were out of the float and Garcia and the rest of the Irrigation Festival royalty – queen Janaye Birkland and princesses Amanda Cerutti and Rebekah Harasick – were riding in other vehicles.
They have been offered convertibles to ride in during the three parades left in their schedule.
