Lindon 'royals' think pink

LINDON — Everyone looks good in hot pink, especially if it's a bracelet devoted to promoting breast cancer awareness.

Little Miss Lindon and her three royal attendants presented a bag of bright pink wrist bands to the Lindon City Council Tuesday night as a gift to city employees and a way to say thank you.

The city fronted money to buy the bands, which the girls are selling to raise money for cancer research.

Lindon Mayor Jeff Acerson also read a proclamation Tuesday night declaring April as Breast Cancer Awareness Month in Lindon.

The Little Miss Lindon Program is celebrating its 20th year, and the focus on breast-cancer awareness is in honor of program founder Colleen McMillan, who died in 1991 of the disease.

The girls have already raised enough money to pay back their bracelet loan of more than $600 from the city and have another $400 to donate to the American Fork Hospital for cancer research.

And they're still going. Each of this year's Little Miss Lindon applicants will sell bracelets to friends, family and community members as part of an annual service project.

This past year, queen Holly Nelson, 13, and her ladies-in-waiting planted flowers at the city cemetery and helped hand out water during another service project at the city park.

"It's a really great experience," Nelson said of the program. "It helps girls gain positive self-esteem."

In order to gain the title and a sparkly tiara, Nelson wowed the judges with a clogging number to "Rock and Roll is Here to Stay."

Along with a talent portion, the 11- to 13-year-old girls go through a two-minute interview with the judges and model their best Sunday dress.

Little Miss Lindon and her royalty are then asked to preside over Lindon Days, ride in the parades and, of course, keep up their service activities.

"I would hope that they take away some self-esteem and learn to serve their community," said Terry Marchbanks, director of Little Miss Lindon. "That is my big thing. I want them to really serve their community and learn about service at a young age."

Twelve-year-old Janessa Olsen said she has loved the chance to be a Little Miss Lindon royalty.

"(I love) the fact that I get to be with . . . wonderful friends all the time — 24/7 in the summer," she said. "And in the summer with the parades, you feel like a princess."

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E-mail: sisraelsen@desnews.com