In honor or the late great Ms. Mary Purvis Friday night May 20^th, 2016 was the crowning event of the 2016 Citrus Heights Queens and Court. Your new Young Miss Citrus Heights is Makenzie Brookshire, Ms. Citrus Heights is Marianna Klironomos, Mrs. Citrus Heights Is Kristen Weiland- Horton, Jr. Miss Citrus Heights is Alana Mills and Court Keegan Carnahan and Tesla Thurman, Teen Miss Citrus Heights is Ellena Negrete, and your new Queen of Citrus Heights, representing Miss Citrus Heights (now for ladies age 18 and over) is Lucinda Maria Witte. Look for the new Queens to be in the 2016 Citrus Heights Red, White and Blue Parade on June 25^th and at many other local area events.

Mary Purvis ran the Miss Citrus Heights Pageant and other local city pageant titles since 1973, and passed away in March of 2014 at age 86. She was planning the 2014 Miss Citrus Heights Pageant when she passed. Her long-time Queen and right hand girl Tamara ‘Tami’ Barbu-Brown now owns and operates the Miss Citrus Heights titles. There are new ways to being Miss Citrus Heights as Tamara tells in in her own words:

“I want to keep Mary’s royal ambassador passion and dream alive by continuing the Miss Citrus Heights Queen tradition and I now call us the Class of Queens. I myself, as Mary did, live in Citrus Heights and just love this City! I was Ms. Citrus Heights of 1997 and helped celebrate the town of Citrus Heights become a City. I Grand-Opened many Citrus Heights businesses over the last 25 years and even rode in the very first Citrus Heights Red, White and Blue Parade. I am thrilled, proud and honored to be what I call the “new Mary Purvis”, and now direct many of her Queen titles. We Class of Queens attend local fairs in the park with make and take crafts, face-painting, serve snow cones and hot dogs, costume parties, and even formal symphony concerts, charity dinners and parades. With me you can earn a title or win one; to earn a title all you have to do is prove yourself worthy of a crown and do the community work alongside of us, just hang with us and do as we do!

Miss Citrus Heights is not a ‘beauty pageant’, it is an ‘Opportunity Program’ – an opportunity to represent a great city and be a given a chance to serve through volunteer Community Service work all year which can be used as community service credit and on job resumes. Here is where you can learn to be an outgoing, brave and charitable giving person, learn social skills and how to work as a Team. And, you can make lifelong friends. Mary Purvis is surely smiling down happy that her queen dream is still active and well and ever growing and changing to fit the modern times. “Let me give you the opportunity to go out there in all your glory and be Amazing!”

Tamara ‘Tami’ Barbu-Brown Owner and Director of Miss Citrus Heights and Miss Citrus Heights City, Miss Greater & Metro Sacramento, email: [email protected].