Sportsman’s Holiday Princess Kimberlee “Kim” Bell figured participating in the court this year would be “a ton of fun since most of the girls are my friends anyway.”
Bell, 17, is one of eight young women who are candidates to be chosen Sportsman’s Holiday queen for the festival, to be held July 13-15. The queen will be crowned on July 12.
She is the daughter of Jack and Cindy Bell of Sweet Home. She has a younger sister, Nicole.
A junior at Sweet Home High School, Bell is a member of the National Honor Society and is pursuing an honors diploma. She has been involved in student leadership, serving as vice president of the Junior Class Board. She co-chaired the Bonfire Committee and the Homecoming Dance this year and has attended two leadership conferences.
She played on the varsity softball team this year and has played on Amateur Softball Association teams for five years. In her free time, she works for Ival McCollum Logging and Rainier Wood Products.
After she finishes high school, Bell plans to attend college and study to be a paramedic or a nurse “so I can continue to help people in need, which is what I enjoy doing.”
She says she appreciates “how everyone is close and everyone looks out for each other” in Sweet Home.
“You can walk down the street or into Safeway and be able to recognize every person you walk past and greet them in a friendly way,” she said. She also appreciates the city’s proximity to the coast and Bend, and the outdoor recreation activities available to local residents.
Bell says that, as a small girl, she “always looked up to the high school girls that were on Sportsman’s Holiday Court and thought they were very pretty and very smart.
“Now I have a chance to be a princess on the court and represent Sweet Home too,” she said. “I hope to be a role model to little girls like past princesses were for me.”