By By JOHN EBY / Niles Daily Star
BENTON HARBOR - Miss Watervliet Jamie Hartmann, 23rd of 23 contestants, was last except when it counted.
Now she's Watervliet's history-making first Miss Blossomtime for the 100th anniversary of Michigan's oldest and largest multi-community festival.
It won't take Jamie long to get acquainted with First Runner-up Emily Foster. She and Miss Hartford are already buddies from softball.
Second Runner-up crowned Monday night at Lake Michigan College's Mendel Center is Miss Edwardsburg Susanna Martino, the village's 49th queen.
One of the first to hug and kiss Susanna backstage afterward was her sister Angel, Miss Blossomtime 1996.
Cass County's other Anjel, Miss Cassopolis Anjel Francisco, won $300 for selling the most program ads and cracked the top 10 finalists, along with Miss Bangor Kylie Williams, Miss Berrien Springs Kelsey Norvell, Miss Stevensville Jenna Thomas, Miss Bridgman Diana Klemp, Miss St. Joseph Courtney Everett and Miss Coloma Heather Nelson, who joins the court as Miss Congeniality.
Miss Blossomtime will attend LMC this fall for two years, then transfer to a four-year university to study sports medicine or business.
She is the daughter of Kathy and James Hartmann. She said if she could change one thing about her community it would be to fix potholes.
Emily's parents, Norine Foster-Anderson and Bill Foster Jr., graduated from Dowagiax Union High School. She is the granddaughter of Ron and Pat Ganger of Dowagiac and Bill and Mary Foster of Hartford. Emily's twin sister, Stefany, made Miss Hartford's court as second runner-up.
Susanna, 18, is a senior at Edwardsburg High School. Miss Congeniality Heather Nelson is the daughter of Annette and Robert Nelson.
Community queens in red dresses danced in the opening number to “Disco Inferno” on their way to competing for $7,000 in scholarships.
St. Joseph has had the most Miss Blossomtimes, seven, since the pageant began in 1924, followed by: Berrien Springs, six; Benton Harbor and Three Oaks, five; Buchanan, South Haven and Stevensville, four; Dowagiac, Baroda, Lawrence and New Buffalo, three; Battle Creek, Bloomingdale, Bridgman, Coloma, Edwardsburg, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Niles and Sodus, two; and Covert, Gobles, Hartford, Mattawan, Muskegon, New Troy, Portage and Three Rivers, one each.