DUCHESS OF THE ROSE GROWERS: A special memory shared through generations

TYLER, Texas ( KETK ) – For more than 90 years, the Texas Rose Festival has seen extravagant dresses, jewelry and crowns.

Enjoyed by hundreds of people who come to Tyler every year to witness the spectacular event. However before Saturday, it takes months of preparation for the festival to run smoothly.

“The costumes that I’ve seen so far are really pretty, so I think that they’ll enjoy seeing all of those, and there’s so many events with the parade and all the coronations that there’ll be so many events going on and so many different people to meet,” Milton said.

The Duchess of the Rose Growers Alice Elizabeth Milton is no stranger to the event. She is the 7th member of her family to hold the title, that includes her mother and her sister.

“It’s important to uphold the traditions that my family started with growing roses and I think it’s good to represent them and remember our history, and I think it’s cool to get to carry on my family legacy,” Milton said.

For this year’s festival, they are paying tribute to her sister’s dress from 2021 by adding a special touch to Milton’s crown.

“It has the real roses on it, so that’s exciting,” Milton said.

One of their biggest events is the coronation, that they rehearse behind closed doors to keep the dresses a secret.

“The skirt is kind of big, so it’s kind of working with that, while walking and going through doors, I stepped on it a little bit earlier, but we’re going to work on that,” Alice said.

Each of the women in her family wore different dresses as the festival has evolved. Now, it will be a special memory they will all share.

“I think it’s fun that we all kind of have our own one that we get to remember and kind of compare them all and we get to share them all with each other too,” Milton said.

The coronation will be tomorrow at two in the afternoon, and again at seven that evening at UT Tyler’s Cowan Center. It’s also the big moment when the queen’s dress will be revealed for the first time.

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