It's not just the Miss queens making a difference

Elizabeth Landry (top photo, left), Susan Dore (right), and Tatum Dore (center) show the role that festival queens of all ages play in their community. Elizabeth is the Woman Okra Festival Queen and the Woman Honeybee Festival Queen, while Susan is the Mrs. Okra Festival Queen, and little Tatum is the Tiny Miss Cracklin Festival, T’Nincy Courir de Mardi Gras, Toddler Duck Festival Queen, and Baby Ray*la*ne XI; together, they brought Christmas presents to all of the children at the Ronald McDonald House. Elizabeth and Susan also teamed up to raise funds for the family of Austin Bryant (pictured below), a four year-old with cancer who is undergoing chemotherapy while awaiting a liver transplant. They raised over $2000, in addition to collecting food for the family and baby clothing for Austin's baby brother Dallas, born last week.

Spotlight on LA Honey Bee Queen

The Louisiana Honey Bee Festival is unusual among state festivals in that it doesn’t honor one town, parish, or industry but rather the fight against children’s illnesses. Started in memory of Heather Williams, a girl who died of leukemia, the festival’s events (including a vintage car show) all raise funds for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and, with other similar fundraisers in the state, bring in about $400,000 a year. The current Honey Bee queen is another Heather, 19 year-old Heather Gonzalez. Among her activities since her October crowning, she attended attended the Festival of the Bonfires (where she had her face painted in honeybee pride), and the Westwego Festival, where she met local mascot Mr. Ray
--an inflatable fireman with a real person inside--and clowned around with visiting royalty, pretending to save her banner from the jaws of an alligator with the St. James Parish, French Food, St. John Sugar, Orange, and Strawberry queens.