Dowagiac’s 2010 Miss Congeniality, Marissa Tidey, Tuesday night was crowned Michigan Apple Queen 2012.
She is the daughter of Tim and Gayle Tidey.
Marissa, 20, attends Grand Valley State University as a sophomore majoring in speech pathology with a  psychology minor.
The contest was sponsored by the Michigan Apple Committee at the Fruit, Vegetable and Farm Market Expo in Grand Rapids.
Marissa and Runner-up Emily Heeren will spend the next year traveling throughout the state as ambassadors for Michigan’s apple industry.
“My street address is Decatur, but Dowagiac is my home,” Marissa corrected everyone at the Expo.
Gayle’s father, Jim Scherer, has been an apple grower, packer and shipper for 32 years in Bloomingdale.
The Tideys have been hauling apples — raw and finished product — since the late 1960s.
Gayle’s employer, Burnett Foods Inc., manufactures apple uice, apple sauce and apple pie filling.
The Tideys also have two sons, Collin, 18, who is in his first year at Easter Michigan University, and Ross, 16, a sophomore at DUHS.