Globe Gazette
Mason City, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
May 24, 2012, by Mary Pieper

   

Once a queen, always a queen. Eighty-four young women competed for the title of Miss North Iowa in 1962.

Being chosen to represent your high school band as queen and ride in the North Iowa Band Festival parade is always a big honor, but that festival 50 years ago was special because Mason City native Meredith Willson and other celebrities were in town for the press premiere of the movie version of Willson’s “The Music Man.”

“It’s still very dear to my heart,” said Vicki (Ross) Peterson, who was Miss Britt and was crowned Miss North Iowa. “I think of it often.”

“Unless you were there, it’s very hard to describe,” said Peterson, who now lives in Woodbury, Minn., a suburb of the Twin Cities.

“You were treated like royalty,” she said.

The band queen from each school had a hostess assigned to her to help her get dressed and explain to her what the day would be like.

Peterson no longer remembers the name of her hostess, but “she was a great asset,” she said.

There was a mass gathering of all the candidates before the parade, where they got to know each other.

The parade was “breathtaking,” Peterson said. “It was like being in New York.”

People in the buildings downtown had the windows open to watch and threw pieces of paper down.

“It was like a ticker-tape parade,” Peterson said.

Karen (Doane) Quinlan, who was Miss Thornton, said the celebrities — including “The Music Man” stars Shirley Jones and Ronnie Howard, as well as Arthur Godfrey — sat in a special section reserved for them during the parade.

“They waved to us as we went by in our convertibles,” she said. “They made a big deal out of waving to us.”

Quinlan, who now lives in Swaledale, still has the dress she wore that day, as well as the bracelet all the band queens received.

“It’s really kind of special to look back on now,” she said.

Karrie (Bonner) Frenz, who was Miss Rockwell-Swaledale, said it rained the night before the big day, so everyone was “just holding their breath.”

However, the weather on parade day was beautiful, said Frenz, who now lives in Mason City.

She said the parade was especially long that year because of all the bands from out of state that participated.

The queens attended a luncheon at the Hotel Hanford after the parade.

“I got to sit right by Shirley Jones,” Frenz said.

The queens attended a movie in the afternoon, but they didn’t stay for the whole show because they had interviews to do at KGLO-TV.

In the evening they went to Roosevelt Field for the coronation.

Peterson said she never believed she would be chosen as Miss North Iowa. She thought she was lucky just to be chosen as band queen from her school.

“I was just there to have a good time,” she said.

Even when she was announced as Miss North Iowa, she still couldn’t believe it.

It was “an elegant and memorable day,” Peterson said. “It just stays with you forever.”