UPIKE seeks Kentucky Mountain Laurel Festival representative
0Written By Ashley Norman
UPIKE recently accepted applications to be this year’s UPIKE representative for the Kentucky Mountain Laurel Festival (KMLF) this spring. UPIKE holds several activities for the women who compete to be representatives. The activities include community service and dinner at Texas Roadhouse, tea hosted by the First Lady at the President’s house, Chapel, and speeches and interviews. The representative will be announced during halftime of the men’s basketball game on Thursday, Feb. 16. The 87th KMLF is being held in Pineville, Ky., May 25-28. Colleges across Kentucky select one representative, and they each representative competes for the title for KMLF queen. The KMLF is one of the oldest Southern traditions. Judges aren’t looking for a beautiful face. They are looking for a woman with great manners and poise. Beauty isn’t the main component of selecting a KMLF queen, as the crown goes to the girl with the best overall personality. Connor Rose, last year’s KMLF representative for UPIKE, said the overall experience was a fairytale. Rose was honored to be UPIKE’s representative. She had no idea what she was about to experience when she started her journey to compete for queen of the KMLF. Rose said her favorite part of the weekend was seeing the cove for the first time where they crown the queen. Rose dreamed of what it would be like to stand in front of everyone on the grassy stage and be crowned queen. The next day, her dream came true. She was crowned the KMLF 2016 Queen. Rose said if she could give any advice to the new representative it’s to really enjoy every single second you have in Pineville, because it really is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Rose is excited to spend the weekend with the new UPIKE representative and share the experiences with her!