First published in the Nov. 3 print issue of the Pasadena Outlook.
Photos by Erin Rodick
The Outlook
The Pasadena Tournament of Roses crowned Bella Ballard, an Altadena resident, as the 104th Rose Queen at the Announcement and Coronation Ceremony last week on the front steps of the Tournament House.
The announcement was made by 2023 Tournament of Roses President Amy Wainscott and follows a monthlong selection process with students from 30 Pasadena-area schools participating in interviews. The Royal Court was selected based upon a combination of qualities, including public speaking ability, academic achievement, youth leadership and community and school involvement.
Ballard is a senior at the Ogburn School, a distance learning school. She is currently a volunteer with Ronald McDonald House Charities, a volunteer soccer coach with Chelsea Football Club, a soccer player at Santa Clarita Blue Heat Football Club and West Coast Football Club, a street soccer player at Venice Beach Football Club and a tennis player at the Arroyo Seco and Flint Canyon tennis clubs. She enjoys reading, calligraphy, collecting vinyl records, playing chess and learning about astronomy and astrophysics. She will be attending Yale in the fall and is interested in studying economics, law and astrophysics. Ballard is the daughter of Joseph and Angela Ballard and has a sister, Samantha.
The history of the Rose Queen dates back to 1905 when Hallie Woods was selected to ride in a horse-drawn carriage down Colorado Boulevard. Since then, Rose Queens have had a wide range of success. From May Sutton, queen in 1908, the first American player to win the singles title at Wimbledon, to the 2000 queen, Sophia Bush, an actor nominated for a People’s Choice Award for her role on television’s “Chicago P.D.”
Today, the 1940 Rose Queen, Margaret Huntley Main, is the longest living queen at 101 years old. From Northern California, she watched Ballard be crowned live on the Tournament of Roses’ YouTube channel.
During the coronation ceremony, Wainscott presented Rose Queen Bella with a Mikimoto crown featuring more than 600 cultured pearls and six carats of diamonds.
The Rose Queen and Royal Court will attend numerous community and media functions, serving as ambassadors of the Tournament of Roses, the Pasadena community and the greater Los Angeles area. Each Royal Court member will receive a $7,500 educational scholarship from the Pasadena Tournament of Roses.
The 134th Rose Parade and the Pac-12 and Big Ten football matchup in the 109th Rose Bowl Game will each be held on Monday, Jan. 2.
