This year marks the 63rd anniversary.of the Mattituck Lions Club’s strawberry festival. It’s a perennial favorite early summer event on the North Fork. One of the festival’s highlights is the crowning of the Strawberry Queen.
The Lions are looking for candidates to apply for the honor of wearing the crown and wielding the strawberry scepter.
Sophomore and junior girls in the Mattituck, Southold, or Greenport school districts are eligible to compete for the crown. Applications are available in the guidance office of their school. Once all the applications are in – this year the must be returned or postmarked by April 17, a committee narrows down the field to five lucky finalists. Then a group of non-locals not affiliated with the Mattituck Lions looks over all the applications continues the process by interviewing the young women.
The final step takes place during a dinner – traditionally held the last Thursday of May where the finalists mix with the dinner guests to introduce themselves and answer questions. Then each of the girls is asked a standard question and a random question that they must answer in front of the whole crowd attending the dinner.
At the end of the night, members of the Mattituck Lions, their spouses and the judges vote by secret ballot for their choice of who will represent their club as that year’s queen. The ballot box is sealed as the votes are counted and certified by a local accounting firm. In the rare case of a tie, the judges and the accountants go back to the preliminary interview sheets to determine which of the girls had a higher point total and she is declared the winner. The actual coronation of the new monarch takes place at the festival – until then the results are kept under wraps.
The new queen will receive her robe, sash, tiara and strawberry scepter from Joy Davis, the outgoing queen. She then begins her duties as a representative of the Mattituck Lions at various events and fundraisers – and serve as a role model for all teens on the North Fork. As Joy said when she was crowned last year, “I’m so excited. I can’t wait to represent the Lions in the community.”
