By Mandy McFarland Editor
NAPPANEE — "Citified" elegance met country ruggedness last Thursday evening, Sept. 18 at the Depot Plaza entertainment stage during the Nappanee Apple Festival.
The annual Miss Apple Blossom Scholarship Pageant featured several new twists this year. First, coordinators changed the date to the opening night of the festival. Second, they moved pageant festivities to the festival site, rather than the NorthWood High School auditorium. Third, they gave it a Country Western theme and brought in Country band "Bootleg" to entertain the audience.

This year's queen was 2008 NorthWood High School graduate Ashlea Romano,  now a freshman at IUSB.
First and second runners-up were Lindsey Kaufman and Rachael Hall, respectively. Romano, Kaufman, Hall and the rest of the Apple Festival queen's court reigned over a number of events throughout the weekend, including the frog jumping contest, the parade, the pie eating contest and a number of other activities. They will also represent their community throughout the year during other pageants and special events like the Indiana State Festivals Association scholarship pageant, the Elkhart County 4-H Fair queen pageant and the 4-H Fair parade.
Following the first performance by Bootleg, the contestants appeared onstage in country western wear for their introductions. Afterwards, it was off to change into formal wear.
Before the panel of judges, each contestant read an essay she wrote highlighting what the Apple Festival means to her. Judges then tallied the scores and announced Romano as the winner.
"It was a great opportunity," Romano said. "I've never done anything like this before. I had a really great time. I'm really excited to be able to go out in my community and represent Nappanee."
Hall was pleased to have been counted among the top three pageant contestants this year.
"I'm so excited that I decided to do this," she said. "It was a lot of fun and It was a good way for me to step outside of my box."