Blossom Festival: A high tea fit for Blossom queens

Blossom Queen 1969 Jeanette Odell (front right) with former Blossom queens Barbara Inglis (1959), Margaret Ross (1973), Alison Tait-Hall (1970), Nicola Hearn (1964), Christine Coleman (1965), Janice Tapper (1962,) and 1965 Blossom Princess Lynda Anderson. Photo / Paul Taylor

Stepping back in time, eight former Blossom queens gathered to reminisce with a high tea the Friday before taking part in Hastings’ popular Blossom Parade.

While the Blossom Festival has evolved into a three-day celebration and no longer has an annual Blossom Queen, the parade queens and princesses are still an iconic part of the spring parade’s history.

Running for 17 years, the competition started in 1957, and each year unmarried women aged 18-28 would enter the contest for a chance to become that year’s queen.

The winner became an instant celebrity and would spend the following year performing a variety of official duties.

They would be required to attend events and be assessed on their decorum and ability to interact with the public — essentially testing their potential to be an ambassador for Hastings and represent the region.

Barbara Inglis, the 1959 Blossom Queen, picks up her role as a Blossom Queen again in the 2023 Blossom Parade. Photo / Connull Lang

Blossom queens came from near and far with 1959 Blossom Queen, Barbara Inglis, 83 flying all the way over from Australia to catch up with the other past queens.

Inglis said she was thrilled to be able to join the group for the unique celebration and reunion.

The eight former queens met at Mangapapa Hotel for a high tea, a few speeches and a big catch-up with what everyone had been doing with their lives after being named the Blossom queens of their times.

The high tea was also attended by mentors and mentees from Big Brothers, Big Sisters Trust as well as female leaders from the community, and the tea kicked off with speeches from Hastings Deputy Mayor Tania Kerr, HDC Rural Community Board deputy chairwoman Izzy Crawshaw, and a few from the Blossom queens themselves.

Before the event, Deputy Mayor Kerr said she was looking forward to meeting and welcoming the special guests.

She explained the crowning of the Blossom Queen each year was a highlight of the parade in years gone by.

Hastings Deputy Mayor Tania Kerr comforts HDC Rural Community Board deputy chairwoman Izzy Crawshaw as she recounts her decision to evacuate her young kids to family while her home was isolated after Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Paul Taylor

“Being crowned Blossom Queen was quite the accolade, and I understand was a serious commitment.

“These women became leaders in our community and it opened up some wonderful experiences, including travelling overseas,” Kerr said.

HDC Rural Community Board deputy chairwoman Crawshaw’s speech moved the room as she recounted all the hard work she had put in to help her community during and after the cyclone, including evacuating her two young children out to family.

All together, the gathering of past Blossom queens provided insight into how society has evolved for women in the Hastings community, while also giving advice and inspiration to future leaders of the community — building confidence and sharing experiences.

To mark the 150th anniversary of Hastings’ founding, the eight former Blossom queens were invited to appear as a special feature of the 2023 parade and travel in open-top vintage cars provided by the Vintage Car Club, enjoying the Blossom Parade as queens once again.

Maddisyn Jeffares became the editor of the Hawke’s Bay community papers Hastings Leader and Napier Courier in 2023 after writing the Hastings Leader for almost a year. She has been a reporter with NZME for almost three years now and has a strong focus on what’s going on in communities, good and bad, big and small. Email news tips to her at: maddisyn.jeffarea@nzme.co.nz.