The beauty of the Rose Festival Court is that it’s made up of young women from different backgrounds and with distinct personalities — and nobody represents the diversity of the princesses more than the reigning Queen of Rosaria Deja Fitzwater.
She’s from Clackamas and a Tigard High School graduate who represented Metro West on the 2023 Rose Festival Court. She’s always been into horses and 4-H, has played lacrosse, and enjoys attending Portland Winterhawks hockey games. She attended the University of Alabama and managed the club wrestling team. She’ll transfer to the University of Idaho to conclude her undergrad degree in agriculture education — she wants to teach.
If the Rose Festival had a “Most Interesting Rose Festival Queen” category, Fitzwater would rank right up there.
It’s been an enjoyable year for Fitzwater, 19, as Rose Festival queen, although it’s been from afar. Fitzwater performed some duties, including attending the Pendleton Round-Up, and will be involved in much more before she crowns the next queen on June 7.
Some fellow Alabama students have inquired about her royal status. She liked to share the story.
“In Alabama, there is a lot of pageantry around festivals — almost everyone has a queen,” said Fitzwater on a phone call from Tuscaloosa, Alabama. “The Rose Festival has an amazing program. It’s not ‘pageantry,’ which is nice. People down here understand. There are a few people from Oregon who go to school here. They think it’s so cool that they grew up with the Rose Festival or know of the Rose Festival.
“Although you’re focused on SEC football, homework and making sure you get something other than Top Ramen for dinner, it’s been a fun conversation topic but not ‘super’ interesting to college students. They do seem ‘pretty’ interested.”
Fitzwater has enjoyed her time in Tuscaloosa as she finished core credits and experienced college for the first time. However, Alabama didn’t offer upper-level agriculture education classes. She would have had to attend rival Auburn, which wasn’t going to happen, Fitzwater adamantly said. “I’ll always say ‘Roll Tide Roll,’” she said.
So, it’s off to Idaho in the summer.
“I loved the university and was plugged into the community,” she said of Alabama. “I’ve really enjoyed all the different athletic aspects — great athletic teams here. It’s fun to be part of a university with such accolades.”
After serving as team manager of the Tigard High wrestling team, she continued such duties at Alabama. The club had almost 40 wrestlers, including about 15 who competed on the travel squad and in the national tournament.
“When I say ‘team manager,’ I mean like team mom or big sister,” she said. “It was an outlet to be firm, maybe when the coach didn’t have specific firmness, and also a peer of my own age group. I’m also the travel trainer. I am able to help, being first aid certified and all. I was allowed to be in the room where it happens. I got to be in the corners of mats, helping wrestlers be able to do their very best, talk to them, help them debrief, or if they need space or to talk to someone, I’m there for them.”
Fitzwater said Idaho has a small wrestling program, but she wasn’t sure about being part of the team yet.
She was offered the opportunity to join an equestrian team at Alabama. But her horse stayed in Clackamas County when Fitzwater went to Alabama. “I love horses, but I was focused on work/life/school/manager balance,” she said.
As far as Rose Festival duties, she participated in parades last summer and attended the Pendleton Round-Up with the Rose Festival Court.
“That was a lovely experience,” Fitzwater said. “As a kid, I grew up with animals and rodeo, and it was so special to be a part of it.” She also attended the Royal Rosarians’ Prime Minister’s Ball. She also visited Taiwan with the Portland Kaohsiung Sister City Association delegation.
“I’ve always been interested in Asian culture,” she said. “I do speak Korean. We’ve hosted several Chinese exchange students. I learned to use chopsticks at 10 years old.”
She has shared information about being queen and part of the Rose Festival Court on social media. Fitzwater will ride in the Starlight Parade and make appearances at CityFair.
“They have a base schedule for me,” she said.
Fitzwater, whose mother, Fabienne Fitzwater, works for Tigard-Tualatin School District, remembers fondly being (surprisingly) named Rose Festival queen and all the fanfare that went with it. At heart, she was a young country woman but comfortable in the city.
“I find myself in this gray area: ‘Could I represent (as queen?)’ I knew I could,” she said after being crowned Rose Festival queen. “I ended up being queen, which is surreal, and now I have all these opportunities.”
She added:
“I spent 5 1/2 weeks with 14 other girls, chaperones, volunteers, and had an amazing opportunity to go around Portland and Oregon and had a lot of fun. I was really inspired, truly, by school faculty members to pursue this. … As soon as I got princess, they were all ecstatic for me. I knew that I had the school behind me. … (Becoming queen) I didn’t know how to process it. I really thought it was going to be someone else, ‘Don’t think it’s me,’ I resigned myself from it emotionally. At first (announcement), the emotion of shock, ‘What!?’ It was really special.”
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