OUR
STORY

On the evening of Saturday, July 24th, 1976, alongside 16 young women Barb Barthel Nelson was crowned the inaugural Miss Albertville by Albertville Mayor Cornelius “Cornie” Paulson. As her first duty Barb rode in Sunday’s parade alongside approx. 90 units lead by grand marshal and Minnesota’s own Hubert Humphrey. This parade wrapped up the three-day bicentennial celebration in Albertville. 

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For the next decade members of the Albertville Lions and Lionesses continued the yearly selection of Miss Albertville and Albertville Princesses before the community formed our Albertville Friendly City Days Festival in 1988 with Shannon McGinnis Sharp being selected alongside Julie Fehn Lenneman, Linda Brown and Kari Kasper Lenneman as community representatives. Two years later, the Albertville Royalty Program introduced the junior program, inviting elementary-aged boys and girls to serve alongside the high school–aged young ladies.

Presently our program continues to celebrate Albertville Friendly City Days with the selection of the Albertville Royal Family each June which includes three high school aged women alongside elementary age boys and girls. This group travels across the state on the “Friendly City On Wheels” their award-winning float as well as volunteers alongside the Albertville Lions and a variety of other volunteer organizations in the STMA community. Focused on our rich history and dedicated to spreading the Friendly City Days spirit across the state and beyond remails the core of who we are and what we do.