It was tea time for all the young princesses at the West End Fair.

The Fair Queen Committee came up with this idea and 25 girls signed up to participate in this first-time event.

Everyone was encouraged to wear their favorite dress for a “magical afternoon” with crafts and light refreshments.”

Many of the young princesses chose Ella from Frozen as their favorite princess, wearing blue gowns like Ella. Six-year-old Aubrey Zamorsky, wearing a blue gown, said, “Cinderella is my favorite, because she has pink on and that’s my favorite color.”

Astella Smith, 6, of Pen Argyl, said, “When I’m at home, I have a lot of dresses, mostly red and pink.”

She was wearing a red gown with long gloves.

Her mother, Keshana, also was dressed in a gown, gloves and a crown, sharing, “Anytime I have an occasion to dress up, I will.”

The Fair Queen program requires an application, essay, interview and speech. This year’s essay topic was “What the fair means to the community.”

“The Fair Queen winners go on to the state fair convention to compete in January,” explainedEmily Shupp, part of the queen committee.

At the West Edn Fair, “The Fair Queen and alternates go to booths throughout the fair to help get publicity, help with livestock auctions and sell raffle tickets and 50/50 tickets,” explained 17-year-old Julia Bulawa, an alternate queen.

Following crafts, juice boxes and cookies, the girls were surprised as they were escorted to the fair stage. The smiles were priceless as each princess’s name was called as they walked on stage. They were then crowned by the fair queens. As they exited the stage, they were each given a princess certificate with their name on it.

The fair queen committee did a wonderful job of keeping smiles on the girls’ faces. Perhaps they will be fair queens in the future.