Fairytale dresses come to life at the 92nd Texas Rose Festival Queen’s Coronation

TYLER, Texas (KETK) – At the UT Tyler Cowan Center on Friday the stories of fairytales were brought to life in handcrafted gowns for the 92nd Texas Rose Festival Queen’s Coronation.

This was the first time East Texas had seen Queen Avery Armstrong’s dress, made by Jacob Climer. Before the event, friends and family gathered eagerly to see the creativity of books come off of the pages.

“We’ve been coming up and taking my daughter since she was probably five. And we loved seeing the gowns and how they glitter on stage,” a regular festivalgoer Stori Nix said. “We love how some of them have secret, you know, explosive, fun, fun things hidden!” 

On stage, the dresses told the stories of ‘Little Women’, ’Mother Goose’, ‘The Velveteen Rabbit” and more. The crowd gasped as dresses would twist and change to unveil something new, like a pirate turning to a princess or a snow queen glowing in the dark. 

Chanda Porter, mother of Reece Porter, Lady in Waiting, is proud of the way her daughter and her friends have been able to express their creativity.

“It’s so fun to just work with the costume designers and the hard work that they put in,” Porter said. “I think that’s really going to come to life on this stage. And just to see her personality.”

Princess Mary-Michael Dial represented all Fairytales with her gown and lastly, Queen Avery Armstrong made her debut as ‘The Library’, fulling tying in the ‘Tapestry of Tales’ theme. 

The Rose Queen and her court will show off their dresses and floats at the 92nd Texas Rose Parade starting at 9:00 a.m. Saturday at the Tyler Rose Garden.   

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