GREENFIELD — Eight young women will come before a panel of judges Sunday in hopes of being named the 2018 Riley Festival Queen.
The annual pageant serves as the kickoff to the four-day Riley Festival that marks the birthday of James Whitcomb Riley.
The queen and her court serve as ambassadors of the annual celebration, conducted this year from Oct. 4 to 7 in the heart of Greenfield.
And though there are fewer participants this year than in years past, the 2018 contestants are “most beautiful and very outstanding,” Sarah Kesterson, a pageant organizer, said in an email to the Daily Reporter.
The Riley Festival Queen reigns over the annual Parade of Flowers and attends festival events.
The queen also goes on to represent Hancock County at a state competition later in the year.
The 2017 Riley Festival Queen Chadsey Matlock, a graduate of Eastern Hancock High School and now a sophomore at Purdue University, will return to Greenfield on Sunday to hand her crown and title over to the new queen. During the ceremony, the festival’s Little Miss and Little Mister Riley were also crowded.
The pageant will take place at 6 p.m. Sunday at the Greenfield-Central High School Auditorium, 810 N. Broadway St.