(From Left to Right)
1st Attendant Christyn Barrows
Queen Kristen Walters
2nd Attendant Dakota VanSickle

By MATTHEW FORTE
HERALD STAFF WRITER

The long parade didn't slow down the swarming crowds at the Miss Pumpkin Show judging.

When city police arrived, they had to push sign-waving students away from the Main Street stage.

After the 2006 Miss Pumpkin Show was announced, signs for Kristen Walters waved highest.

The Circleville junior was crowned queen with Christyn Barrows, Teays Valley junior, was named First Attendant and Dakota VanSickle, Logan Elm Junior was named Second Attendant.

Walters was nervous until just before the interviewing Wednesday afternoon.

"I just calmed down and said, 'Just be yourself,'" she said. "And that's what I did."

Walters ate lasagna and salad lunch with the other candidates at J.R. Hooks.

The three judges asked the six finalists one question each. Walters's question asked her favorite tradition of the show.

No one part of the show is more special than another, she said. The entire show's tradition is what sets it apart from other festivals.

And after riding through the parade, how do the candidates still have the strength to wave at the crowd from the stage?

MISS PUMPKIN SHOW Kristen Walters

1ST ATTENDANT Christyn Barrows

2ND ATTENDANT Dakota VanSickle

"I was just so excited my arm stayed up there moving," Walters said.

She thanked her parents and friends, Barb and Kathleen and Circleville High School students for the opportunity to represent them.

Gifts to the queens were donated by Images Unique Photography, Sharff's, Blocks Shoes, Christopher Don Boutique, Maggie and Me, Porter's Auto Detailing, Porter's Dry Cleaning, Classicutters, Rhonda's Hair Gallery, Tink's Restaurant, Pickaway Chamber of Commerce, Christy's Pizza, Pickaway County Relay for Life, Movie House, Something Different, Market on Main and Patsy Artrip.

2006 Miss Pumpkin Show Judging