WHEREAS, The annual Daffodil Festival is a favored tradition for the people of Pierce County and the Northwest; and

WHEREAS, 2016 marks the 83rd anniversary of the Daffodil Festival, and the theme of this year's festival is "Fun in the Sun"; 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—the parade 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 Kimberly Agfalvi, Bethel High School; Tiauna Bill, Chief Leschi High School; Shayla Chandler, Fife High School; Faviola Colmenares, Washington High School; Laura Cronic, Curtis High School; Shannon Dooley, Orting High School; Emmalee Ford, Cascade Christian High School; Jaycee Jenkins, Graham-Kapowsin High School; Melissa Kinney, Lakes High School; Chelsea Lopez, Lincoln High School; Mackenzie Macoy, Franklin Pierce High School; Lindsey McClellan, Mount Tahoma High School; Maddie Meyer, White River High School; Skylar Miller, Sumner High School; Jessica Nguyen, Henry Foss High School; Kaitlin Nguyen, Rogers High School; Emily Oliver, Spanaway Lake High School; Kelty Pierce, Puyallup High School; Tabitha Reynolds, Bonney Lake High School; Sammy Roberts, Eatonville High School; Kallie Sherwood, Emerald Ridge High School; Esther Wamagata, Clover Park High School; and Lillie Williams, Stadium 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 eighty-three years; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be immediately transmitted by the Secretary of the Senate to the 2016 Daffodil Festival Officers and to the members of the 2016 Daffodil Festival Royalty.

I, Hunter G. Goodman, Secretary of the Senate,

do hereby certify that this is a true and

correct copy of Senate Resolution 8730,

adopted by the Senate

March 1, 2016

HUNTER G. GOODMAN

Secretary of the Senate