The first week of June this past summer, history was made! Chloe Rogers and Lily Warnert, were named the first ever Sartell princesses, and Reagan Hengel was named the first ever Miss Sartell!
Before these young women were crowned, the went through a process of selection. The girls spent the week before the pageant, which was held on the first Friday in June, preparing for their interviews, walks, and on stage questions. Each day Chloe, Lily, Reagan, and the two other candidates, Kenzie Lundquist and Kaylee Grove, would meet to practice for the pageant.
During their week of preparation, they also had the opportunity to take a tour of the city. They started at the community center, learning about all the different events that our community center holds. They then made their way off to public safety, to meet with the chief of police, and some of the town’s firefighters, to look through the building, and learn a thing or two from the pro’s. After that, they went over to city hall to meet with the mayor and some of his colleagues. Lastly, the mayor showed them to the recently refurbished Sartell bridge, and told the girls about some of the exciting future plans for the town.
On the day of the pageant, they started the day off doing 10 A.M. interviews, with a panel of five judges. Later during the day, the true pageant began. Each girl introduced themselves to the crowd and thanked their sponsor. Following this, they put on their evening gowns, and did their walk across the stage while the mayor read a small bio about each girl. After this, the ladies came back on stage for an onstage question. Behind the scenes, the girls also each worked on a essay that they turned into the judges, to be added to their total score.
After the girls’ scores were all totaled up, they were invited back to the stage for the naming of the princess, queen, and extra awards. The first award that was given out was the “Miss Congeniality Award,” accepted by Lily Warnert! The next award given was the “Best Dress Award,” accepted by Chloe Rogers! The two princess were then named. The first princess called was Lily Warnert! The second princess called was Chloe Rogers! Finally, was the crowning of Miss Sartell, and Reagan Hengel was awarded this title!
The morning after the coordination, the Sartell parade was held on River Road. This would be the first time the new royalty would debut!
It was so wonderful for the girls to see all the excitement, from ages old to young, about the new royalty.
For the rest of the summer, the girls went to many more events! They attending a lot of parades all over Minnesota. Some parades the girls attended was the Sauk Rapids Parade, the Foley Fun Days Parade, the St.Joe Parade on the Fourth of July, the Litchfeild Watercade Grand Day Parade, the Royalton Parade, the Gleenwood Waterama Parade, and the STMA Daze Parade.
The girls also attended many coronations for other royalty programs. They went to support their crown sisters at the Sauk Rapids Pageant. They also attended the Cambridge Pageant, STMA Pageant, and the Maple Grove Pageant!
Sartell royalty has also made some appearances through the community over their year of service. They attended a book reading at Riverview for some of our younger community members. They also went to local dance studio, Just For Kix, and had a ‘princess day” with some of the dancers. They attended the Monster Dash, and gave out candy to the trick-or-treaters at the community center. They also had a pop up hot-dog stand outside of Coborn’s, to help raise money for the program. They also met with the St.Cloud Optimist club and some business owners of the community, to learn a little bit more of the work that goes into our town and neighboring towns!
The royalty also had a dual photoshoot with the Sauk Rapids royalty this summer. They were stylized by MacKenzie’s Boutique, in Sartell, and got to wear some of their product in the shoot.
They also had a few fun things that were just for the heck of it. They got to attend a sparkle night at the Princeton Raceway. It was something they had never done before, so it was fun for them to be able to get out there and try something new. However, they were definitely pretty dirty!
They also got to attend two other sparkle nights at the St.Paul Saints baseball game and a Minnesota Wild game! For the baseball game, the ladies got the opportunity to go out on the felid before the game began. For the hockey game, all the royalty was invited down to the ice after the game was finished.
Clearly, there is so much fun and service that is provided by this program. However, for all these things to happen, there has to be some action behind the scenes.
The Sartell Royalty Program was started by Lindsey Trimbo and Keli Trautman. The two women were directors for the Sauk Rapids Royalty before they began the program here in Sartell.
Lindsey Trimbo noted that, “I have been a part of the Sauk Rapids Leadership team for as long as I can remember!” Lindsey loves everything pageants! Lindsey stated that Keli was the one who initiated the Sartell program and asked Lindsey to come abroad.
Pageants have always been a major part of Lindsey’s life. She started competing when she was 18 years old, and competed for the National American Miss MN title. She achieved her goal of the crown in 2007. It was a huge commitment, but was the best year of her life. The friendships and communities she got to serve were endless, and she took advantage of the opportunity to wear her crown and banner. To this day, she is still so proud of her accomplishments. Lindsey has expressed how much gratitude she had for the opportunity and was so glad she decided to take the leap. Following her year of service, Lindsey worked for National American Miss every summer, traveling the United States working state pageant as a choreographer.
Keli Trautman has been part of the Sauk Rapids Royalty for the past three years. She was asked by Lindsey to be a judge for the girls one year, and then was hooked to the program after that. Keli loved everything about the program. The message, the big picture attributions, and what it means to be a title holder.
Starting this program in Sartell was Keli’s dream come true. She asked herself why Sartell didn’t have a royalty program and was set on getting one started. Keli states that, “Being a title holder is such an amazing opportunity.” She doesn’t have personal experience, but she remembers watching her sister as Miss Princeton growing up. She loved everything that came with her title, and she could not have been a prouder sister.
Dayna Deters and Kathi Sauerer also work alongside Keli and Lindsey on some of the things that go on behind the scenes.
Dayna does a thorough job advertising for the program, and she helps to organize things with other businesses. Dayna has a wonderful family here in Sartell. Dayna and her husband own a cross-fit gym and yoga studio in Waite Park!
Kathi takes care of all the numbers to keep up on track with the program spending. Kathi is also blessed with a beautiful family, and her daughter is very near and dear to the girls. Surprise! Director Lindsey is Kathi’s daughter!
The girls also would like to say a huge thank you to these two women for working so hard to make things so much easier!
There is so much to be proud of in this organization. It is truly amazing to be a part of something so formative and driven. All of the royalty team is grateful for this amazing opportunity. Thank you Sartell Royalty.
