By James Massara
CCN News Director
BUCYRUS — Six contestants walked onto the stage on West Rensselaer Street on Thursday evening hoping to walk off that stage with a silver crown and a chance to represent her community.
In the end, it was Wynford High School senior Emily Rudd holding the bouquet of roses and receiving the crown from 2017 queen Allison Lawson.
Rudd was crowned just moments after being crowned Miss Congeniality, an award voted on by the queen contestants themselves.
Rudd was accompanied on the queen’s court by first runner-up Desiree Sharp and second runner-up Emily Chavatzas. Sharp is a graduate of Colonel Crawford High School and will be attending Marion Technical College in the fall and Chavatzas is going to be a senior at Bucyrus High School.
Earlier in the day, Bucyrus Elementary third-grade student Peyton Fackler was crowned junior princess of the 2018 Bratwurst Festival. She was accompanied by first runner-up Megan Young, a third-grade student at Wynford Elementary, and second runner-up Josyln Hensley, a second-grade student at Wynford.
Best German costume was awarded during the junior princess competition and was awarded to Natalie Adams, a third-grade student at Wynford.
The first crown awarded during opening day of the festival, the princess honor, was awarded to Phoenix Evans, a seventh-grade student at Colonel Crawford. Evans also was named Miss Congeniality during the competition.
Joining Evans, was first runner-up Rylee Powers, a seventh-grade student at Bucyrus Middle School, and second runner-up Melanie Johnson, an eighth-grade student at Wynford.
A new award was given during the princess pageant. The first Chairman’s Award was awarded to Bucyrus seventh-grade student Emma Tyrrell.
The royalty winners will remain in their positions until the 2019 Bucyrus Bratwurst Festival.