In 1951 the first Fourth of July Queen, Jean Beavers, won her crown by selling the most derby hats. The hats admitted the wearer of the hat to all Fourth of July events. Eventually hats were replaced with the selling of buttons, and for a few years the buttons had numbers on them and one lucky button buyer won a new Ford pick-up.

The selling of buttons for the crown continued until 1973, when that tradition was replaced with a pageant. The pageant continued through the 1990s and there even was a Mr. Forks or maybe two?

Eventually it became more difficult to find volunteers and participants that had time to commit to so many parades and traveling. So, a few years ago Fourth of July President Mark Soderlind came up with an idea to honor a “Home Town Hero” at each of the festivals the Forks Old Fashioned Fourth of July float attends.

It has worked out so well that now communities are lining up their participant(s) before the Fourth of July committee even sends the request.

As the next Forks Fourth approaches Throw Back Thursday remembers 1992 Queen Angie Richards and her court.