Today is the first day of the Romeo Peach Festival! I hope that everyone attending will have a great time. You might see me there because on Friday, August 29, and Saturday, August 30, I will be at the Romeo Community Center from 10am to 5pm conducting oral history interivews, so people of all ages can share their memories of the festival. Our table will include plenty of Peach Festival-related photos, including of the Peach Queen seen here.
She's Mianna Gonczar - a 2010s Peach Queen who wanted to be a role model for girls.
In 2015, the 19-year-old from Romeo was crowned with that title. Mianna is best remembered as the Peach Queen who's the eighth of nine children in her family. According to the 2015 Romeo Peach Festival program, she also has the distinction of being delivered in her Romeo home by her proud parents.
We have a great sense as to why Mianna won through the many articles from that year. She was in the top 20 of her 2014 graduating class at Armada High School, where she also attended The Macomb Academy of Arts and Sciences. At the time of her obtaining the Peach Queen crown, she went to the University of Detroit Mercy for a Biology degree with a minor in English, so she could be an Oncology Physician Assistant. In addition, she worked as a Care Manager at The Village Rehabilitation and Care Community in Armada.
And, that's not all. Mianna was the 2014 Macomb Distinguished Young Woman of Michigan. Her volunteer work and club memberships included Gamma Phi Beta Sorority, Fencing Club, Relay For Life Captain, Muscular Dystrophy Association Camp Counselor, American Heart Association Marathon, the World Medical Relief Center in Detroit, and St. Clement Church Choir. She has always been involved in multiple activities, "which she attributes to giving her strength and self assurance."
Moreover, she expressed wanting to be a role model for girls, young and old. She encouraged them to grow by participating in plenty of activities that benefited the community. She explained, "I want to help build strong girls...I want to encourage them to be a strong voice and to use it."
Given the focus on Peach Queens playing active roles in the community and being role models, it's easy to see why Mianna won. Her resume is quite impressive and proves how involved she was. That undoubtedly must have impressed the judges. She was the perfect role model to become the next Peach Queen.
Her duties were similar to that of previous Peach Queens. She promoted the Peach Festival by attending various parades and participating in many events through southeast Michigan. She sang the National Anthem before the Peach Festival Floral Parade, attended the Romeo Lions Club meetings, and visited the Lions Bear Lake Club Camp for the visually impaired. Additionally, she volunteered at the Samaritan House, but her main focus was doing charity work for A Beautiful Me - a nonprofit whose goal is to build girls's confidence and self-esteem. To her, it was the perfect place as she said, "Their mission is a lot like mine when I got crowned, which was for people to not be afraid to do whatever inspires them."
When her reign was coming to an end in 2016, Mianna recalled, "I didn't realize how much the Peach Queen gets to do...I have done so many amazing things and I have met so many nice people."
She added that those experiences have "encouraged her to have more self confidence and to be more open with others."
When asked by The Record of some advice to her successor, Mianna said that she should make "the best of her experiences and to also make it her own experience."
She added, "I will tell her not to be afraid to put her own spin on it...Express yourself and be confident. The whole experience is what you make of it."
Perfect advice from the perfect role model!
To learn more about Mianna Gonczar, other Peach Queens, and the Peach Festival in general, you can locate the Romeo Peach Festival Collection here and/or contact the Romeo Community Archives at rca@romemodistrictlibrary.org to see said collection in person.
If you want to share your memories and experiences about the Peach Festival, you can contact the archives at the email above.
Images and sources courtesy of the Romeo Community Archives; Romeo Peach Festival Collection, 2015 and 2016