UPDATED 4:30 p.m. March 17, text & photos

It was a night of firsts at the Rhododendron Festival royalty coronation ceremony in Chimacum:

• Queen Samantha "Sam" Smith is the first in Rhody royalty history to have been a member of Junior Royalty (first grade), Queen's Court (middle school) and now, Rhody royalty (high school). She's also the daughter of a former Rhody queen.

• Dylan Tracer, 13, is the first boy to be part of the Queen's Court; he becomes a "Royal Gent" for the 2015 Rhody Festival and is also the son of a former Rhody queen.

• For the first time, the bling under the spotlight at Rhody coronation has included a Super Bowl football championship ring, courtesy of your Seattle Seahawks.

The Chimacum High School auditorium hosted an appreciative audience for the March 14 coronation under this year's festival theme "Eighty Years and Still Blooming." First Federal sponsored coronation, and many businesses contributed to the event.

Royalty were crowned to represent Port Townsend and Jefferson County at the Rhody Festival (May 13-16) and the 2015 parade season. The program was emceed by Pat Ruel, assistant offensive line coach with the Seattle Seahawks.

Finishing the night as queen is Sam Smith, 17, the daughter of Shawna-Kay Cochran, 1990 Rhody queen. Smith also received the Royal Court's High Button Sales Award for selling the most pin sponsorships. She is involved in Knowledge Bowl at school, and her many community activities include 4-H Cat Club and 4-H Leadership, and she is a 4-H State Advisory Board member.

Lillian Kelly was voted the Congeniality Award by the other contestants, and she received the Past Queen's Scholarship for having scored the highest at the Judge's Tea.

Princesses Diedra Morris and Morgan Chaffee complete the 2015 Rhody Court. All four girls are high school juniors.

Candidate scoring is based on public speaking engagements (30 percent), judge's interviews (30 percent), coronation program performance (25 percent) and candidate coordinators (15 percent). The judge's interviews were conducted March 8 at Manresa Castle in Port Townsend.

CORONATION FUN

At the coronation, candidates gave prepared speeches, answered an impromptu question, and presented a creative display. For the creative display, Morris danced to an up-tempo number and Kelly and Chaffee each performed interpretive dances. Smith read two original poems, the second of which was about her grandparents Skip Smith (who died in 2003) and Judy Kay Smith (who died in 2010) and featured a slide show of photos.

Each candidate later thanked their family, friends and supporters in their run for Rhody. Backstage after the ceremony, Smith said she drew special strength from her family, with visitors from Utah and Oregon.

All four young women spoke about the importance of Rhody as a community festival, and their anticipation of having a fun year.

Farewells came from 2014 Queen Addison Richert – who opened the program with a vocal performance – Princesses Kaycee McGuire and Lane Hill and Prince Shiloh Lanphear-Ramirez. They were acknowledged as show-stoppers along the 2014 parade circuit with their engaging personalities.

Seahawks coach Ruel, who has made several other public appearances in youth-related events in Port Townsend, earned his share of laughs as emcee, and a "Go Hawks" cheer.

After three of the candidates had performed dances as creative displays, Ruel noted, “I did one of those moves when I was 10 years old and broke our TV set." He quipped that one of his emcee stumbles was like an interception on the 1 yard line, and noted that the crowns worn by the Senior Association kings were remarkable. “I know when we won the Super Bowl we didn’t get no hats like that."

He did flash his Super Bowl championship ring, telling the audience, "It's really gaudy and it's hard to wear." Turns out this was the first day he's worn it since the day it was presented.

QUEEN'S COURT

The Queen's Court members (middle school) are Lacey Bishop, 13, a student at Chimacum Middle School; Alex Hanson, a student at Brinnon School (and Junior Royalty in 2009); and Dylan Tracer, 13, a student in Port Townsend. Tracer's mother is Jennifer (Wurtsmith) Tracer, 1992 Rhody Queen. Tracer was in the Kiddie Parade in 2002 at the age of 7 months, won in the Trike Race at age 18 months, and last year, with his sister and their dog, won in the Pet Parade.

Queen's Court applicants had to sell $300 in sponsorships to qualify. Bishop received special applause for having sold $1,200 in sponsorships.

SENIOR ROYALTY

The Tri-Area Senior Association royalty for 2015 are Jim Thompson and Loreen Sutherland.

The Port Townsend Senior Association royalty for this year are Jeff and Stephanie Boyles.

HELP RHODY

Fundraising is needed to pay for the 2015 royalty scholarships: $1,500 for queen and $1,000 for each princess, along with other festival expenses.

Special fundraising events planned include a spaghetti dinner starting at 6 p.m. Saturday, March 28 at the Oscar Erickson Building at the fairgrounds in Port Townsend. Tickets are $7 for adults, $5 for ages 5-12 and $30 per family for an event that includes a live auction and a balloon pop raffle.

The "Dude Looks Like a Lady" fashion show is May 9 at the Marvin G. Shields Memorial American Legion Hall in Port Townsend.

Hilltop Tavern's popular Wednesday Bingo for April is also a fundraiser for the Rhododendron Festival.

The Rhododendron Festival Association is a nonprofit organization that supports Jefferson County’s oldest community festival, named for Washington’s state flower. Event registration forms are at

rhodyfestival.org.