Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The 2025 Washington Parish Balloon Festival Queen’s Pageant was held at the BHS Auditorium on Sunday, March 30th.

There were three age divisions, pre-teen (12-14), teen (15-16) and miss (17-23). All three age divisions participated in a round-robin style interview with the three judges, which was held at Annunciation Catholic School earlier in the day. They later competed on stage for the evening gown portion of the pageant, where they all modeled and either gave an on stage introduction or answered an on-stage question.

Our 2024 Queen’s welcomed over 60 visiting queens who traveled from all across the state to attend. Our retiring queens, (Miss) Carissa Hall, (Teen) Aniston McKenzie and (Pre-Teen) Madeline Adams bid farewell to the audience and shared memories from their year-long reign before crowning the 2025 royalty.

There were a total of 11 contestants, overall from all over the parish. The weekend prior to the pageant, the girls attended a mother/daughter tea at the Bogalusa Country Club, which was hosted by the Balloon Fest Queen’s Committee.

Lillian Alivia Bell was crowned 2025 Miss Washington Parish Balloon Festival Queen. Lillian is the 18-year-old daughter of Amber and Caleb Bell of Bogalusa. She is a 12th grade student at Ben’s Ford Christian School.

Kloe Elizabeth Barber was named 2025 Washington Parish Balloon Festival Teen Queen. She is the 15-year-old daughter of Katrina and David Barber of Franklinton. She is a 9th grade student at Bowling Green School.

The 2025 Washington Parish Balloon Festival Pre-Teen Queen’s crown went to  Ava Grace Rayborn. Ava is the 13-year-old daughter of Alaina and Mike Keen of Bogalusa. She is an 8th grade student at Bowling Green School.

The queens look forward to welcoming everyone to come soar at the 2025 Washington Parish Balloon Festival, which will be taking place Friday, May 30 – June 1 at the Washington Parish Fairgrounds!