Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
The Sweet Home Chamber of Commerce has named Oregon Jamboree Event Manager Peter LaPonte grand marshal of the Sportsman’s Holiday parade, which begins at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
“I’m flattered,” LaPonte said. “But it’s not necessarily about me. It’s a lot more about the Jamboree.
“I think they chose it more about the festival and the positive impact the festival has had on Sweet Home.”
The Sportsman’s Holiday weekend’s festivities will begin with the annual Coronation Ceremony, to be held beginning at 5:30 p.m. at the Sweet Home Elks Lodge, Thursday, July 12.
A steak dinner will be served at 5:30 p.m. with the program beginning at 7 p.m.
The Coronation kicks off the Sportsman’s Holiday and Sweet Home Rodeo weekend July 13, 14 and 15 in Sweet Home.
Competing for the crown are eight princesses: Amanda Basham, Kim Bell, Jamie Burcham, Ashley Byrns, Chelsea Gregory, Alicia Nichol, Schae Pettner and Zuri VanCleave.
The princesses have attended speaking engagements at civic meetings including Rotary, Kiwanis, City Council, School District #55 School Board, Linn-Benton Community College Board of Directors and PEO. They also attended and helped at community events such as the Chamber After Hours, Chamber of Commerce Banquet, Relay for Life, Tree USA Celebration and Carriage Me Back Days in Brownsville. They attended coronations and parades in Scio, Lebanon and Brownsville.
The princesses earn points for participation in these events. They will also be judged on coronation night by an impartial panel that will score them on poise, personality, interview skills, a three-minute speech and an impromptu question. In addition to the Queen title, First Princess, Miss Congeniality and Most Ticket Sales will also be awarded.
Each princess will be awarded a college scholarship for her participation. The 2007 queen will be crowned by the reigning 2006 Queen Stefani Crocker.
Joining the Sportsman’s Holiday Court this year for the Coronation, Parade and Queen’s Tea will be the Junior Court, a group of nine first-graders selected from each of the first-grade classrooms in the Sweet Home School District. Junior Court princesses are: Myranda Shipp of Oak Heights Elementary School, the daughter of Sam and Karri Shipp; Brianne McKee of Sweet Home Charter School, the daughter of Scott and Cora McKee; Kylie Armstrong of Holley Elementary School, the daughter of Jason and Kimberly Armstrong; Marissa Green of Foster Elementary School, the daughter of Deanna Green; Ally Tow of Hawthorne Elementary School, the daughter of Dan and Michele Tow; Kelika Aiona of Crawfordsville Elementary School, the daughter of Art and Siara Aiona; Alyson Powell of Oak Heights Elementary School, the daughter of Katie Powell; ReAnna Latham of Hawthorne Elementary School, the daughter of Josh and Laurel Latham and Brooke Ackley of Foster Elementary School, the daughter of Brian Ackerly.
For Coronation dinner tickets ($12.50), contact the Sweet Home Chamber of Commerce at 367-6186, one of the princesses, or Court Chaperones Mary Sue Reynolds at 367-4968 or Karla Burcham at 401-3339. Admission is $3 at the door for the program only.
The Grand Parade will begin at 11 a.m. Saturday morning, following the Sportsman’s Holiday Mile race that will start once police and city crews close the streets along the parade route.
LaPonte will ride in the parade, which will include dozens of entries from the community, including many that have benfitted from the Oregon Jamboree.
LaPonte is simply the representative of the festival, he said, and he credits the volunteers who make the festival happen.
He took over as event manager in 1999. The Jamboree struggled throughout the 1990s, sometimes netting a profit and sometimes running in the red.
The festival went into the black to stay in 2000.
In 2001, the Jamboree started making significant gains, LaPonte said, and it has been ever since.
Across the community, programs benefit from the Jamboree with local fund-raising efforts tied to the event. Proceeds from the Jamboree also support local economic development efforts and the Sweet Home Community Foundation.
The Jamboree’s proceeds helped sustain the Sweet Home Rodeo financially when the rodeo became a part of the Sweet Home Economic Development Group (SHEDG), which owns and operates the Jamboree.
“I feel great,” LaPonte said of the festival’s progress. “We’ve taken the festival from a concept. The concept was there, and we basically made the concept a reality,” fulfilling the vision of the Jamboree founders.
The Jamboree has expanded both the program and its customer base, he said, while retaining many good, key volunteers along the way.
“You can’t put 400 volunteers on a (float),” he said. “But that’s really who should be there.”
The Oregon Jamboree is a three-day country music and camping festival usually held the first weekend of August. Proceeds from the event support community projects and SHEDG programs. The 2007 show is scheduled for Aug. 3-5.