A family affair

Singing Christmas carols as a second-grader at a Mason County Forest Festival Christmas event, Brooke Sheetz' gaze fell on the teenage girl in the glittery gown waving to the crowd.

"I remember seeing the queen in her cape, and it was cool," she recalled.

Sheetz now sports a cape and the title of Queen of the Forest. On Saturday, she and the rest of the court - Princess of Douglas Fir Madilyne Nelsen, Princess of Hemlock Madeline Allred, Timber Nevaeh Haskins and Paul Bunyan Zachary Peach - will be waving from their float to the hometown crowd during the Paul Bunyan Grand Parade beginning at 11 a.m. at the intersection of Seventh Street and West Railroad Avenue in downtown Shelton.

Sheetz succeeded her sister, Gabriela Lepe, as Queen of the Forest.

Sheetz, 18, has lived in Shelton all her life. "I feel like Shelton raised me," she said.

Sheetz attended Mountain View Elementary School and Oakland Bay Junior High School, where she played on the soccer and volleyball teams. During her freshman year at Shelton High School, a coach talked her into giving powerlifting a try at a competition two days later.

"I started with the lightest ones, because I didn't know how much I could lift," Sheetz recalled. She finished in sixth place; at her next competition, she placed second. She competed all four years at the high school.

Sheetz said she considered competing for a spot on last year's court with her sister, but was too busy with her job at Wendy's and her sports teams. She found the time this year.

"I was nervous," Sheetz said of the competition. "I wasn't thinking I was going to ever be on the court. And I walked out as the queen."

And the advice from her sister? "Smile big and let yourself get out there and meet the people."

The members of the Forest Festival court rode their float in the parades at the Irrigation Festival in Sequim, and the Rhododendron Festival in Port Townsend.

"It was nerve-wracking," Sheetz said. "The surprising thing to me was all the attention ... seeing all the smiles. I've never experienced that before."

The members of the court are getting acquainted. Sheetz and Haskins have been best friends since first grade, and she was already acquainted with Peach. Now she's getting to know Nelsen and Allred, who she describes as "two peas in a pod."

"Those two always put a smile on my face," she said.

Sheetz plans to attend South Puget Sound Community College for a year beginning in the fall, so she can stay close to home for her queen duties, and then transfer to Washington State University for her sophomore year. She plans to pursue a career in sports medicine, perhaps working with athletes at a college.