Les and Margaret Nelson named Nordicfest king, queen
This year's Nordicfest royalty includes, from left, queen Margaret Nelson, king Les Nelson, and co-princesses Kira Lee and Autumn Vinion.
By HEIDI DESCH Special to the News
Nordicfest kicked off its 2007 season Saturday with its annual coronation event.
About 130 people attended the dinner held at the Ponderosa Room in City Hall.
The theme of the night and for the year's Nordicfest is Reindeer Roundup 2007.
The new royalty was named and will represent Nordicfest for the year by attending area parades and during Nordicfest for opening ceremonies, the bunad procession and parade.
Rev. Les and Margaret Nelson were crowned as king and queen. Les is the former pastor of Christ Lutheran Church.
There were 10 candidates vying for the junior royalty positions. Normally, a prince and princess are selected. However, the Nordicfest board chose to name two princesses after no boys applied for the prince position this year.
Kira Lee, daughter of Cyrus and Kim Lee, and Autumn Vinion, son of Patrick and Richelle Vinion, were named co-princesses. Both are juniors at Libby High School and will receive a $750 scholarship after their reign.
Jan Erickson, Nordicfest's royalty chairwoman, said the princesses were chosen through an interview process and by selling tickets to the dinner.
Marvin and Diana Moe were named Kootenai Knute and Mrs. Knute. The position traditionally honors a couple who is active in the logging community. Marvin has been in the logging industry for about 30 years.
Terry and Carole Andreesen will serve as parade marshals during Nordicfest's parade in September. The couple own Timberline Auto Center.
In addition to the coronation events a slideshow presentation on the history of Nordicfest was played. The presentation included pictures of past royalty, Nordicfest posters and pins.
Drawings were held for several prizes including a quilted jacket and .30-06 Tikka rifle. Mary Miller won the jacket and Tony Berget won the rifle.