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Fiesta Days royalty crowned

The Fiesta Days royalty was honored Saturday for poise and skill.

While the contestants sparkle, with their styled curls, they are also tough competitors.

The junior princess this year, Natalie Larabee, an 11-year-old from Aztec, competes in pole bending, barrel racing and goat tying. She kept competing even after a rodeo accident two years ago left her with three cracked ribs.

Even now, it’s goat tying that sometimes leaves her in the dust.

“You fall a lot; well, I fall sometimes,” she said.

For Fiesta Days Queen Taylor Edwards, 16, a seasoned competitor, it wasn’t the horsemanship contest that made her nervous.

“I’m not going to lie, I was nervous for the speech,” she said.

The royalty has been a Fiesta Days tradition since the 1930s, and for Lexie Crawford, Fiesta Days princess, the competition was about carrying on a legacy.

“My family has been here for 120 years, so it’s part of my heritage,” she said.

Herald Staff



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