Isabella Nitzschke Is Crowned Lilac Royalty; Erynn Rice Wins Poster Contest

Isabella Nitzschke was crowned the new Lilac Queen during a ceremony at Marquette Park Friday night, June 9. The coronation followed the unveiling of the official Lilac Festival poster, which features a painting of Grand Hotel’s Secret Garden framed in lilacs by Erynn Rice.

The 2022 Lilac Queen Clara Chambers crowned Isabella who was a member of her court last year. Isabella just finished her junior year at Mackinac Island Public School and has been a member of the Lilac Festival Court with her friends since 2021. Five-year-old Josie Badour was crowned the 2023 Lilac Princess. Josie was just graduated from kindergarten and loves theater, singing, and dancing.

Isabella has been on the honor roll for the past three years and has been involved with volleyball, basketball, golf, and robotics. She has always loved the Lilac Festival Parade and will attend it and other events as queen throughout the festival.

“It’s cool to finally be the queen,” Isabella said. “I’ve been up here with all my other friends. All the former queens have been my friends, so it’s cool to be a part of that train now.”

Lilac Queen Isabella Nitzschke with artist Erynn Rice whose artwork graces the festival’s poster. MCKENNA JOHNSON / MACKINAC ISLAND TOWN CRIER

Joining Isabella and Josie on stage were 10 former Lilac Queens, including Sue (nee Perault) Chambers, who was crowned the first Lilac Queen in 1949 when she was just six years old, and Mayor Margaret Doud who was crowned in 1963. The selection process for the Lilac Queen has varied over the years, with today’s queens chosen by an interview panel. Entrants must be students at Mackinac Island Public School, volunteer, and participate in activities.

An artists’ reception attended by many of the artists and dozens of visitors was held at Mission Point Theatre before the coronation and unveiling ceremony to display a gallery of 18 of the 20 finalists in the poster contest. In the hall outside the gallery, all the previous Lilac Festival posters are on display throughout the festival.

This year, the poster contest was judged by representatives from the Mackinac Arts Council who, in addition to the first-place entry “Lilac Secrets” by Erynn Rice, awarded second place to “A Tranquil Getaway” by Kristy McNelly and third place to “West Bluff Abloom” by Kevin Barton. The first official Lilac Festival poster was made in 1993, and in 1995, the creation of the poster was made into a competition. The contest had a record-breaking number of entries this year with 82 entrants. The remaining 19 of the top 20 are now eligible for the Peoples’ Choice Award; voting is open on mackinacisland.org until Sunday, June 18.

Lilac Princess Josie Badour is crowned by Mayor Margaret Doud.

One of the artists in the top 20, Connie Mae Moeller, entered the contest for the first time this year with the encouragement of her daughter. At first, she thought she didn’t have the time. She hadn’t even known the contest existed, but she loved the Island and wanted to be a part of it. Her painting, entitled “A Lilac Welcome to the Island,” is a scene from a photograph she took on a trip years ago to the Island with her family after her son had been graduated from high school. She woke her granddaughter up bright and early for a day of exploring the Island before the reception, as it was their first time visiting for the Lilac Festival.

The artworks submitted to Lilac Festival poster competition on display at the Mission Point Theater gallery.

“We could smell the lilacs as we were coming into the docks,” she said. “It was unbelievable.”

In the gallery dedicated to this years’ entries, many visitors remarked it was interesting to see the pieces in person, as the online gallery on the Mackinac Island Tourism Bureau’s website doesn’t show the unique mediums and textures of the pieces. For example, in addition to digital art, paintings, and photographs, one of the pieces was a glass mosaic, and another was a large hand-knit wall hanging.

Noel Skiba, who has won the poster com- petition multiple times and has entered many more, painted her entry this year featuring Lilac Lane from the corner of Market Street and Cadotte Avenue, from the point of view of a spot she’s stood in for years. She likes to capture bits of color throughout her pieces, and in this piece, “Celebrating Mackinac Island’s Oldest Blooming Lilac Tree for 75 Years,” she and her son are hidden in the painting, among other elements.

“When I paint, I’m constantly painting the entire painting. It’s constantly evolving layers and layers and layers,” she said. “They have like 300 hours put into them.”

After the reception, guests were invited to Marquette Park for the coronation ceremony. For the 75th anniversary of the Lilac Festival, all previous Lilac Queens were invited to attend the coronation, and 10 joined Isabella and Josie on stage as they were crowned.

Josie said she had fun at the coronation, but she was a little nervous leading up to it. As people gathered in the park before the ceremony and a musical trio played to the crowd, Josie twirled and danced at the top of the steps of the Father Marquette statue in a purple dress that she said arrived just in time for the ceremony.

In addition to the coronation ceremony, as part of the duties of the Lilac Queen, Isabella will attend the Lilac Festival Parade Sunday, June 18. In the meantime, she will attend different festival events, like the puzzle competition Sunday evening, June 11. She will also conduct media interviews. Isabella was supposed to do one the day of the coronation to talk about what goes into being queen, but she had to finish exams at school.

Isabella’s friends, Makayla Rickley, Lakelyn Bunker, and Madison Gamble, are on her court. Isabella said she’s enjoyed getting to watch all the queens before her grow up and do their own things, and then see who gets to do it next.

“It’s an honor to be the queen,” Isabella said, and to be considered a good representative of the Mackinac Island community.