The Pierce County Daffodil Festival will celebrate their 90th year of serving the community with this year’s theme “90 Years Around the Sound” highlighting the history and uniqueness of the South Puget Sound community and their Festival.
Along with announcing their 2023 theme, The Daffodil Festival also announced that they will be adding a 24th high school to select a princess. Harrison Preparatory School in the Clover Park School District will hold their first ever Daffodil Princess Selection on November 21, 2022.
Each year, the newly elected president of The Daffodil Festival is responsible for choosing a fresh theme. The theme acts as a guide for many aspects of the upcoming years’ festival including princess speeches, float decoration, and design of that year’s pin.
“I wanted to bring attention to the Daffodil Festival’s long-standing prominence in the community while also featuring the Puget Sound” said this year’s Daffodil Festival President, Madison Riddle. “The Giant Pacific Octopus is also my favorite animal, and just like the Daffodil Festival it is one of the many things that make our community so unique.”
Riddle is not only featuring the historical impact of the Daffodil Festival in this year’s theme but is also making history herself. This is the first year a former member of the Daffodil Royal Court has been elected as President of the Festival. Riddle (maiden name Newberry) represented Lakes High School as a Daffodil Princess in 2012. She will also be the youngest president to serve the Festival in this role.
This year’s pin design will feature a Giant Pacific Octopus holding a daffodil with the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in the background. The Daffodil Festival traveling float, a main attraction of the parade, will also follow a similar theming as it traverses the parade route on Saturday, April 1, 2023.
Students from Piece County’s participating high schools will share a 1-minute speech about this year’s theme “90 Years Around the Sound.” One senior from each school will be selected to represent the community as a 2023 Daffodil Princess. In addition to speeches, the selection consists of interviews by a judges panel and answering an impromptu question. The upcoming high school selection dates are:
- October 12, 2022 – Fife High School
- October 13, 2022 – Clover Park High School
- October 17, 2022 – Curtis High School
- October 18, 2022 – Emerald Ridge High School
- October 19, 2022 – Rogers High School
- October 20, 2022 – Puyallup High School
- October 24, 2022 – Bethel High School
- October 25, 2022 – Foss I.B. High School
- October 26, 2022 – Sumner High School
- October 27, 2022 – Bonney Lake High School
- November 1, 2022 – Chief Leschi High School
- November 2, 2022 – White River High School
- November 3, 2022 – Eatonville High School
- November 7, 2022 – Silas High School
- November 8, 2022 – Lakes High School
- November 8, 2022 – Graham Kapowsin High School
- November 9, 2022 – Stadium High School
- November 10, 2022 – Lincoln High School
- November 14, 2022 – Franklin Pierce High School
- November 16, 2022 – Washington High School
- November 17, 2022 – Mt. Tahoma High School
- November 18, 2022 – Spanaway Lake High School
- November 21, 2022 – Harrison Prep School
- November 22, 2022 – Orting High School
Selections are free of charge and open to the public. For more details on each school’s selection dates and processes, please contact the high school listed. For more information on the Daffodil Festival and upcoming events, please visit https://thedaffodilfestival.org.
What took so long? In 2017, I brought up the fact that Harrison Prep should be included in the Daffodil Festival. So many classes that missed this opportunity.