Queen Katie concludes unforgettable week

Royalty from across the state of Minnesota gathered at the 2005 Minneapolis Aquatennial to share an experience of a lifetime and vie for a position as Aquatennial Royalty. Among the 47 candidates was Miss Maple Lake 2004-2005, Kate Haegele, who was nearly speechless over the excitement of the entire week.

“The whole week was just so unbelievable,” said Kate. “It was just so much fun. That’s all I can say.”

In addition to the week of events, seeing neighbor Miss Annandale, Jill Starke, crowned as a 2005 Aquatennial Princess was a personal highlight for many.

“Seeing her get crowned was really exciting,” said Kate. “It was fun to see someone we knew, for all of the neighboring towns.”

Other members of the Aquatennial royal court included Miss Blaine, Jintana Nelson, who was crowned as a princess and Miss Paynesville, Katie Nelson, was crowned as Queen of the Lakes.

Even though each of the girls was deserving of a crown, there was little competition between the candidates. Kate said that all of the girls treated it as the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that it was and focused very little on the competitive aspect.

“We just looked at it as a week of fun and it truly was,” said Kate.

During the week, the candidates participated in events such as a welcome reception, ice skating, a meet the candidates session, a community luncheon and the Queen of the Lakes coronation. The candidates also visited a veterans home which was a highlight of the week for Kate.

“We got the chance to talk to veterans who had served our country,” she said. “It was really rewarding because we could see the joy in their faces that we had brought to them while being so honored and grateful ourselves for their service. It was really emotional for some people.”

Another memorable event was the spaghetti eating contest at Bucca DiBeppo.

“I lost by four noodles!” said Kate, who was not at all bitter about her close loss to Miss New Brighton.

Kate said that the eight-course meal which followed the contest was delicious and made for quite an unforgettable event.

The week-long event, packed with hundreds of activities, did induce a little anxiety.

“We were all a little bit nervous that we would be running on empty the rest of the week, but we all just ran on adrenaline and it was a lot of fun,” said Kate. “It didn’t matter how tired we got, we just kept going and had a great time with it.”

In addition to the events, the candidates participated in four judging sessions. During the first session, groups of five candidates met with each of the five judges for four minutes. The following day, each candidate met with the entire panel of judges in a personal interview. The girls were then judged on an impromptu speech. In the final session, the girls wore their white gowns and addressed the judges with their coronation speeches.  Even after a whirl-wind of activities, Kate said her greatest memory was getting to know all of the other candidates and creating a week’s worth of memories.

“I had so many favorite events,” said Kate. “I could pick about a million events because they all were great.

“If I had to choose, though, it would be getting to meet all of the other girls.   “To have the chance to meet 46 of the most amazing girls from around the state was really exciting and I certainly will never forget this experience.”

Kate also expressed her deepest gratitude toward the Maple Lake Chamber of Commerce and the Queen’s Committee for giving her “the opportunity of a lifetime.”

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