WHEREAS, The annual Daffodil Festival is a cherished tradition for the people of Pierce County and the Northwest; and
     WHEREAS, 2009 marks the seventy-sixth annual Daffodil Festival; and
     WHEREAS, The mission of the Daffodil Festival is to focus national and regional attention on our local area as a place to live and visit, to give citizens of Pierce County a civic endeavor where "Swing into Spring" comes alive, fostering civic pride, to give young people and organizations of the local area an opportunity to display their talents and abilities, to give vent to citizens' enthusiasm in parades, pageantry, and events, and to stimulate the business economy through expenditures by and for the Festival and by visitors attracted during Festival Week; and
     WHEREAS, The Festival began in 1926 as a modest garden party in Sumner and grew steadily each year until 1934, when flowers, which previously had been largely discarded in favor of daffodil bulbs, were used to decorate cars and bicycles for a short parade through Tacoma; and
     WHEREAS, The Festival's 2009 events are ongoing with the forty-eighth Annual Junior Parade on March 28, 2009, the seventy-sixth Annual Grand Floral Street Parade on April 4, 2009--winding its way from downtown Tacoma through the communities of Puyallup, Sumner, and Orting and consisting of approximately forty float entries and over eighty other entries, including bands, marching and mounted units and floats that are decorated with fresh-cut Daffodils, numbering in the thousands--and will culminate with the fifty-seventh Annual Marine parade on April 19, 2009; and
     WHEREAS, This year's Festival royalty includes Queen Melanie Stambaugh, Emerald Ridge High School; Princesses Melissa Weiner, Bethel High School; Danika Wilcoxson, Bonney Lake High School; Meredith Gallion, Cascade Christian High School; Gabriella Traido, Chief Leschi High School; Wendy Taduran, Clover Park High School; Jessica Larsen, Curtis High School; Hayley Larson, Eatonville High School; Colleen Phillips, Fife High School; Kirsten Nee, Franklin Pierce High School; Brandy Winter, Graham-Kapowsin High School; Anna Chow, Henry Foss High School; Maili Dellinger, Lakes High School; Abigail Smith, Lincoln High School; Jessica Madden, Mt. Tahoma High School; Lindsey Withers, Orting High School; Robyn Olson, Puyallup High School; Jin Stedge, Rogers High School; Gerianne Perkins, Spanaway Lake High School; Myranda Morris, Stadium High School; Shelby Parkin, Sumner High School; Courtney Schumacher, Wilson High School; and Saige Jennings, Washington High School;
     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That the Senate recognize and honor the many contributions made to our state by the Daffodil Festival and its organizers for the past seventy-six years; and
     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be immediately transmitted by the Secretary of the Senate to the 2009 Daffodil Festival Officers and to the members of the Festival Royalty.