WHEREAS, 2015 marks the 82nd anniversary of the Daffodil Festival, and the theme of this year's festival is "Shine Your Light With Service"; and

WHEREAS, The mission of the Daffodil Festival is to focus national and regional attention on our local area as a great place to live and visit, to give the citizens of Pierce County a civic endeavor and to foster civic pride, to give young people and organizations in the local area an opportunity to display their abilities and talents, and to give voice to the citizens' enthusiasm in parades, pageantry, and events; and

WHEREAS, The Daffodil Festival began in 1926 as a modest garden party in Sumner and grew steadily each year until 1934, when the daffodil 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 Daffodil Parade is the highlight of the Festival week. It travels through the four cities of Tacoma, Puyallup, Sumner, and Orting and consists of over 150 entries, including floats, bands, marching, and mounted units. Floats are decorated with thousands of fresh cut daffodils, and the parade is a bridge that links one generation to another; and

WHEREAS, When the Daffodil Parade is over, the Royalty and their float will travel to over two dozen out-of-town parades to represent and celebrate Pierce County; and

WHEREAS, This year's Daffodil Festival Royalty includes Pelumi Ajibade, Stadium; Ashley Becker, Bonney Lake; Kenzie Bjornson, Cascade Christian; Kyla Farris, Rogers; Madison Gordon, Wilson; Kasey Hewitt, Lakes; Emily Inskeep, Chief Leschi; Jaskirat Kaur, Emerald Ridge; Madison Lindahl, Puyallup; Rachel Price, Eatonville; Bailey Rasmussen, White River; Kaitlin Ringus, Fife; Nicole Ripley, Henry Foss; Tia Robbins, Franklin Pierce; Ransom Satterlee, Bethel; Athena Sok, Lincoln; Victoria Ann Tirado, Clover Park; Bailee Towns, Graham-Kapowsin; Taylor Trujillo, Spanaway Lake; Samantha Ward, Sumner; Sharon Washington, Washington; Shannon Woods, Mt. Tahoma; Madison Zahn, Orting; Lyndsay Zemanek, Curtis;

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 eighty-two years; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be immediately transmitted by the Secretary of the Senate to the 2015 Daffodil Festival Officers and to the members of the Festival Royalty.