Regional winner Christine Domaniecki of Belleville, New Jersey, was crowned by the original Barnabas, Jonathan Frid. In a tie-in with the show, a Miss American Vampire contest was held. Dark Shadows's Miss American Vampireĭark Shadows was a bizarre 1960s and '70s TV soap opera about a centuries-old vampire named Barnabas Collins. The Alabama National Peanut Festival began in 1938 (featuring key speaker George Washington Carver, of course). The 1939 Peanut Queen, Dot McArthur, wore a peanut swimsuit and presented a prize to one lucky winner. The festival still produces sweet crisp apples and queens today. Jackson, Ohio's Apple Festival QueenĪlthough the identities of past Apple Festival Queens are not clear from the festival’s online history, each was part of the long tradition of Jackson, Ohio's Apple Festival Queens dating back to 1937 (interrupted only for WWII). Miss Courtney, who once appeared as a bathing beauty in a Three Stooges short, is reported to have been a staunch Catholic who refused to pose nude for Salvador Dalí.

In 1955, the Zion Meat Company declared Geene Courtney the Sausage Queen of its National Hot Dog Week. In the mid-20th century, businesses and communities began to see the huge commercial possibilities of holding a contest where girls would compete just for the honor of representing their product or main export, from sausage to doughnuts.

The traditional selection of a May Day Queen evolved into the beauty pageants that we’re all familiar with. It is a centuries-old tradition for communities to pick a pretty girl to be the “queen” of their seasonal festivals.

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