Little Lentil King and Queen Crowned

Pullman, Wash. – The National Lentil Festival coronated the new Little Lentil King and Queen on Saturday, August 20, 2011 during the 23rd annual festival.

photo by Jerry Prout

The new Little Lentil King is Sam Leeper, son of Mark and Vicki Leeper. The new Little Lentil Queen is Claire Shelton, daughter Chad and Chrissy Shelton. Both Sam and Claire attend Jefferson Elementary School. Sam enjoys science, dinosaurs, and computer games.  Claire enjoys dance, guitar, and singing.

Drew and Ali will represent the National Lentil Festival during  2011-2012. They will begin their rein making appearances throughout the region on the Lentil Express and with the festival mascot, Tase T. Lentil. You can catch them next judging the Holiday Costume Contest at  Holiday Fest 2011, presenting the award to the Lentil Family of the Year at the Seed Growers Luncheon.

The Little Lentil King and Queen are ambassadors for the National Lentil Festival. To be eligible for Little Lentil King and Queen candidates must be in the first through the sixth grade and live where lentils are grown. They are judged on their stage presence and responses to the following three questions: why they like living on the Palouse; why they like lentils, and; why they want to be the Little Lentil King or Queen.

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