SARANAC LAKE - Kelly Morgan and Tim Fortune were crowned Winter Carnival queen and king at Friday night's Coronation ceremony.
They took the stage at the Harrietstown Town Hall, which was decorated with spaceships and aliens in keeping with the Space Alien Invasion theme by the Women's Civic Chamber in a way that Chamberlain Josh Marlow called "out of this world."
The pair were surrounded by the ladies and gentlemen of the court, with the high school girls dressed in silver sparkling space-age dresses and the boys in suits, and the elementary school-aged pages, with the girls dressed like cartoon character Judy Jetson and the boys dressed like her brother Elroy.
2011 Carnival King Ed Scharmer and Queen Cheri Fisher announced this year's royal couple.
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Queen Kelly
A Saranac Lake native, Morgan attended St. Bernard's School, Saranac Lake middle and high schools, and graduated from Paul Smith's and Empire State colleges.
The fifth of 11 Morgan children, her parents were past Carnival king and queen, and one of her brothers was a Carnival archbishop.
Morgan calls her family members the highlights of her life, including long-time partner Spider Duprey, daughter and son-in-law Jamie and Shawn Rohe and their son Blake.
She's worked in food service for most of her professional life and has been employed by St. Joseph's Addiction Treatment and Recovery Center for the past 19 years.
A past recipient of the Saranac Lake Chamber of Commerce's Citizen of the Year award, Morgan volunteered for a number of local groups including Little League softball, the North Star Behavioral Mentoring Program, the Women's Civic Chamber and the Saranac Lake Golf Club.
She's also helped with revitalizing the local after-prom party, the 90-Miler Canoe Races, village cleanup days, Winter Carnival Coronation, the welcome-home parade for Olympic athletes, Ironman holiday helpers, the community Thanksgiving dinner and the Hanmer Guideboat Races.
She has also volunteered as a St. Bernard's religious education teacher and has been a vocal advocate for the Community Store.
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King Tim
Fortune is a fifth-generation Adirondacker who graduated from St. Bernard's and St. Pius X schools, and he holds three college degrees.
He married his high school sweetheart, a cheerleader he first asked out after his last winning high school football game, in which he scored a touchdown.
He's owned a business, Fortune Studio, in downtown Saranac Lake for 17 years (and he wants people to know he can hear what you say outside his Main Street storefront window). He jokingly warned Coronation attendees that he will have to increase the price of what he sells because of a new "royalty tax."
An integral part of the local arts community, he helped found the Adirondack Artists' Guild 11 years ago, he started and still runs the Third Thursday Art Walks, and he helped found and organizes the Saranac Lake Cabin Fever Film Festival, as well as mentoring many young artists over the years. He's also given numerous presentations to civic organizations, schools, library groups and other town leaders concerning the importance of arts in our lives and how it enhances the lives of citizens.
It was Fortune who had the idea and organized a plan last fall to move local music store Ampersound from its old storefront to a new one a few blocks away, through a bucket brigade. One hundred eighty people responded to Fortune's request and helped.
He's participated in a number of other volunteer endeavors as well, including sitting on the boards of the Saranac Lake Chamber of Commerce and the Lake Placid Center for the Arts, as well as the advisory board of the Saranac Lake Free Library.
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Awards
Also during the Coronation ceremony, Liz Murray, president of the Women's Civic Chamber, and Jeff Dickson, 2012 Winter Carnival chairman, handed out three awards.
First, Dickson had Scharmer present Billy Madden the Don Duso Award, for work on the Ice Palace. Scharmer was the recipient of that award last year. He said Madden does anything and everything to build the Palace, and teaches other people how to do it all the while.
After that, Dickson presented the Katee Morgan Fobare award to Tom Hyde of Hyde Fuel and Mark Weller of Sturdy Supply.
"These two businesses are kind of inseparable," Dickson said.
Dickson said both business are generous with equipment and man hours when helping with the Ice Palace and any other Carnival need.
J.R. Owens, aka Mr. DJ, was given the Trudeau Award, which Dickson said is given to a person who best exemplifies the Winter Carnival spirit.
"Carnival is fun," Owens said when accepting the award. "Mr. DJ is so glad to be a part of Carnival."
After coronation, the royal court attended a reception at the DownHill Grill.
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Contact Jessica Collier at 518891-2600 ext. 25 or jcollier@adirondackdaily
enterprise.com.
