Hilltown Archives — The Altamont Enterprise, May 12, 2011
Tulip Festival Launches good works for Adriance
By Zach Simeone
KNOX — On the heels of last weekend’s festival, Marjorie Adriance is still a tulip, and is traveling with the queen and her court to promote Mayor Gerald Jennings’s literacy campaign, and clothing drives with the Salvation Army, all while growing closer with the girls that she hopes will be her lifelong friends.
“Right now, we have a project called the Music Mobile,” Adriance, 18, told The Enterprise. “We drive around the city of Albany, traveling to stoops and alleys, and playing music to kind of push for a diverse, happy, healthy Earth. It’s going to be fun.”
It all began in March, when she was nominated to become Tulip Queen. Nominees have to be at least 18 and living in Albany County. After the first round of interviews, 15 girls were chosen; from those 15, five were chosen, and Adriance was one of those five.
“All I could say was, ‘Wow; thank you,” she said.
And, accompanied by the honor of being chosen, was a shopping trip.
“They took us shopping at Crossgates, David’s Bridal,” she said. “We got a suit, coronation dress, and a ball gown and shoes,” all of which she got to keep.
“Saturday night was the Tulip Ball at Wolford’s Roost,” she said, “which was the first official appearance as queen and court.”
She is currently a freshman at Hudson Valley Community College, studying early childhood.
“I definitely want to go away and experience college life in a dorm,” she said of her aspirations upon completing her work at Hudson Valley. “From there, my hopes are to be an elementary school teacher.”