From staff reports
Sixteen area youths will be vying for the 2017 Cranberry Festival king and queen titles.
The candidates participating in the contest, all juniors at local area schools, have been interviewed by festival judges Linda Lineman, Ashley McCauley and Angela Shields.
Each candidate has also completed an essay on “Why I Would Like to be Festival Queen or King” and will be graded on their community-related interests, school and extracurricular activities and employment experience.
Once the talent scores have been tallied and added to their previous scores, the queen and king will be crowned and each will be given a basket of gifts from local merchants.
The talent and crowning ceremony will be preceded by a fundraiser spaghetti dinner from 5 to 7 p.m. at the fire hall.
The dinner is open to the public and the cost is $9 per person ($4 for 4 to 10 years old and free to 3 years and under) and includes free admission to the talent show and crowning. Those not attending the dinner will be charged a $1 admission to the show and crowning. Proceeds raised through the spaghetti dinner will be used to offset the costs of the free children’s activities held during the festival.
Here are the queen and king candidates:
— Shannon Birsa of Oil City, daughter of David and Patricia Birsa; Rocky Grove High School
— Meghan LaVan of Oil City, daughter of Larry and Kathleen LaVan; Rocky Grove High School
— Nick Swatzler of Franklin, son of Paul and Kelly Swatzler; Rocky Grove High School
— Benjamin Dobson of Oil City, son of Daniel and Heather Dobson; Oil City High School
— Riley Weller of Oil City, daughter of Scott and Lynda Weller; Oil City High School
— Maggie Stack of Oil City, daughter of James and Teresa Stack; Oil City High School
— Timothy Friedhaber of Oil City, son of Thomas and Jennifer Friedhaber; Oil City High School
— Aihziah Bunting of Franklin, daughter of Eleanor Bunting; Franklin High School
— Jeremy Chatley of Utica, son of Herbert and Cheryl Chatley; Franklin High School
— Kirk Morrison of Franklin, son of Kirk Morrison Sr. and Tina Shetler; Franklin High School
— Lauren Olivia Varsek of Venus, daughter of Robert and Tamara Varsek; Cranberry High School
— Britney Ann Shreffler of Venus, daughter of Brian and Carol Shreffler; Cranberry High School
— Adam Joseph “AJ” Howard of Venus, son of Kent and Julie Howard; Cranberry High School
— Julian James Fell of Franklin, son of Dr. Bradley and Tina Fell; Cranberry High School
— Evan Eisenman of Tionesta, son of Jeff and Alicia Eisenman; Venango Catholic High School
