For all of you non-Southerners, here is an article about Katherine Stirling Haygood and her role as Queen of Rex!
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Source:
http://www.nola.com/living/t-p/index...7676157140.xml (accessed 2/24/2004)
She loves a parade
And today, Katherine Stirling Haygood will have an especially choice vantage point for watching the Rex street pageant: She'll be on the reviewing stand as QUEEN OF CARNIVAL 2004
Tuesday February 24, 2004
By Siona LaFrance
Staff writer
When she was a little girl, Katherine Stirling Haygood loved nothing more than to be on St. Charles Avenue on Mardi Gras morning, watching the Rex parade roll by.
"Our friends always had a ladder up outside their home, and there were lots of kids and it was always lots of fun," she said.
"She enjoyed watching the marching bands and catching beads, of course. But most of all, Katherine said, she wanted to catch the float on which her father, Rex member Paul Haygood, was a rider.
"Sometimes we'd be running a little late, and we'd have to sprint to St. Charles from here because my dad rides pretty early in the parade," she said.
Missing any part of the Rex parade will not be among Katherine's worries today. As queen of Carnival 2004, she will be front and center on the reviewing stand at the Hotel Inter-Continental, where she will watch the parade with her court and receive the traditional toast from Rex, the king of Carnival.
"It's a huge honor and I'm just so excited about it," Katherine said in an interview last week.
She and her parents -- her mother is Sandy Haygood, the former Charlotte Sanders Smither -- had welcomed the day's first visitors to their Garden District home, which is decorated in warm colors, antiques and eclectic artwork.
The energetic and athletic 21-year-old -- her mother says "spunky" is a perfect description -- said the news that she would be queen was all very unexpected.
"It really hadn't crossed my mind. I mean, I couldn't fathom that this could happen to me," said Katherine, who is a junior at the University of Virginia, where she is majoring in psychology.
"You know, you see the queens and they're always so dazzling."
She'll wear her own dazzling gold gown, crown and mantle at tonight's Rex ball at the Municipal Auditorium and the meeting of the courts of Rex and the Mistick Krewe of Comus at the Comus ball on the other side of the auditorium.
Like so many before her, this year's queen hails from a family with close ties to the Rex Organization, which is also known as the School of Design.
Her great-great-grandfather, Matthew J. Sanders, was Rex in 1902, the year his son, Bert, served as a page. Her grandmother Charlotte Hardie (now Mrs. John G. Menville) was queen in 1939, and Katherine's aunt Louise P. Smither (now Mrs. Denis H. McDonald) was queen in 1965. Mr. McDonald was Rex in 2001.
Katherine learned last spring that she would join that list of Rex royalty.
"My parents suggested I come home for Easter," she recalled. "It was a little bit unusual because it's kind of a hard time, because it's right before exams. But I was glad to do it."
At dinner, her father set out an Easter basket that contained the standard goodies, with a note at the bottom.
"He loves to do IOUs," Katherine said, "so I thought it was for something kind of silly."
He directed her to another room, where the flag from her grandmother's reign was spread out and the Rex anthem, "If Ever I Cease to Love," played.
"The flag gave it away," she said.
The family immediately began preparing, making fabric choices and compiling guest lists.
Katherine praises the Rex Organization for helping guide them through the process.
"They're so efficient and everything works like clockwork," she said. "I don't really have to think about anything."
Well, that's not entirely true. For months, Katherine had to think about carefully guarding her secret.
At school, most of her friends weren't aware of the custom of keeping the queen's identity under wraps.
"We sent invitations to the ball to some of my friends up there, which sent some antennas up," she said.
"They'd come right out and say things like, 'So, are you the queen of Carnival?' And I'd say, 'Of course not!' "
Her mother said it was easy for her to keep the secret.
"I haven't had anyone ask," she said.
"No I take that back. At the fabric store, the man looked me in the eye and said, 'Your daughter's queen of Carnival, isn't she?' "
"And he said, 'It's OK if you tell me. I knew who last year's queen was, too.' "
She looked him right back in the eye and denied it.
Katherine, a graduate of Metairie Park Country Day School, has traveled extensively and hopes to one day spend a year living in Paris.
She'd also like to hike the entire Appalachian Trail with her older sister, Charlotte. And she would like to compete in a triathlon.
At Country Day, Katherine played volleyball and soccer, organized homecoming and other events, and served as vice president of the senior class and president of the junior and sophomore classes.
On the social scene, as a sub-deb, she was a princess in The Atlanteans court and a maid in Squires, Les Pierrettes and Apollo.
At Virginia, she is membership chairwoman of her sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma, as well as a member of the College Student Interest Group in Neurology and a volunteer elementary school tutor.
She also is a research assistant in a psychology laboratory, a position she says will be beneficial in her chosen field of marketing research.
Katherine said she's looking forward to everything about today's events, beginning with the official Mardi Gras run at Audubon Park, which tradition dictates the queen will win.
Afterwards, she'll return home to dress for the parade.
"This year, I'm so excited about the LSU marching band leading the Rex parade," she said.
Katherine purchased the winter-white wool crepe dress that she will wear today when she was in London studying for six weeks last summer.
"It's probably pretty hard to buy a white suit over here and not have people speculating," she said with a grin.
"I got the hat there, too, which was great because they didn't have any clue. They asked if I was getting married."
After the parade, she will greet well-wishers at a reception at the Haygood home, then prepare to depart for the ball.
She and her mother chose Judy Cobb of Alice Designs to create her gown, which is made of imported gold lace over gold lamé and features multitudes of Austrian rhinestones, crystals and gold bugle beads.
Seeing Katherine in her gown for the first time "was a 'wow' moment," her mother said.
"She was gorgeous."
Although all eyes will be on her at tonight's ball, Katherine doesn't think she'll have to battle nerves.
"Excitement definitely will override the nervousness," she said.
"It's been so natural growing up here to be part of Carnival. It's always been a part of my life. To know that I can now be so involved in it is such a huge privilege and honor, for myself and my family.
"I just hope that everything goes well," she said, "and that everybody has a great time."
. . . . . . .
Staff writer Siona LaFrance can be reached at
slafrance@timespicayune.com or at (504) 826-3454.
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