Zoe Bishop was crowned New Westminster’s 147th Queen of the May at today’s festivities in Queen’s Park Stadium.
The 2017 May Day celebration featured Grade 3 folk dances, Grade 4 maypole dances, a performance by the New Westminster Secondary School senior marching band, anthems led by the Richard McBride High Notes Choir, a performance by the NWSS Cheer and Stunt Team and the crowning of this year’s May Queen.
The 2017 Royal Suite includes:
* F.W. Howay – May Queen Zoe Bishop and royal knight Trey Sidhu.
*Qayqayt Elementary School – first maid of honour Emma Vanderven and royal knight Nicolas Blaison.
* Connaught Heights Elementary– second maid of honour Charlotte Johnson and royal knight Ryan De La Torre.
* Richard McBride Elementary – medal bearer Jadyn Gibson and royal knight Callum Whyte.
* Lord Kelvin Elementary – register bearer Victoria Reina and royal knight Alex Drake.
* Queensborough Middle School – first flower girl Kisa Gavac and royal knight Luke Murdoch.
* Lord Tweedsmuir Elementary – second flower girl Christina Hodges and royal knight Peter Darwish.
* Herbert Spencer Elementary – third flower girl Samantha Black and royal knight Roy Brenan.
In an effort to make the May Day festivities more meaningful and relevant to students, the school district introduced changes, such as having more youth performers and giving members of the Royal Suite more of a role in the event.
Earlier this year, the school district accepted the May Day task force’s recommendation to have new outfits for members of the Royal Suite in this year’s event, with girls to wear purple and pink floral dresses lined with a crinoline and topped with a white bolero and short, white gloves and boys to wear white, long-sleeved dress shirts with a purple tie (to match the dresses) and black pants. That prompted a delegation of community members, including girls in the Royal Suite and their parents, to express shock and disappointment with the decision and to appeal to the school district to allow the girls to wear the traditional attire.
