By Tim Allen

Transcription from the The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER, VIRGINIA  5/2/02  - 

Everyone was ready to give Katharine Desiree Luckinbill the royal treatment as she arrived in Winchester on Wednesday in preparation to become queen of the 75th Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival.

But she managed the sudden spate of attention and palatial surroundings of Bruce and Bobbi Patton’s home with the calm of a grounded, normal teen-age girl.

“This is so exciting. I just don’t want to fall down,” said Kate, who arrived with her parents, Laurence Luckinbill and Lucie Arnaz, from Washington Dulles International Airport to greet a host of friends, festival officials, reporters, and photographers.

While a lavish spread of food filled the table — and the Pattons’ home certainly had the necessary decor to serve as the queen-designate’s palace for the weekend — she seemed as if she would have just as easily fit in at the mall or a ball game with her friends.

“When I first told my friends what I was doing, they said, ‘What is that?’ But when I explained what the festival was, they said, ‘That is so cool,’” Kate said.

She even brought a couple of friends with her to enjoy the festivities.

This year’s queen-designate said she appreciates the Apple Blossom history in her family. Her grandmother, legendary television star Lucille Ball, served as grand marshal of the festival in 1964.

However, while the world knew Luckinbill’s grandmother as Lucy, a trail-blazing comic who revolutionized entertainment through TV, Kate just knew her as “Nana.”

“Sometimes people will say, ‘Do you know who you are?’ And I say, ‘I don’t know — tell me,’” Kate said. “My grandma was just my grandma.”

Even though Ball died when Kate was 5, the queen-designate has vivid memories of her grandmother baking cookies, swimming with her, and playing games.

Kate admitted to being a little nervous about all the weekend’s hype, but she said, “I’m trying to be as relaxed as possible.

“Most of this is stuff I’ll be doing for the first time, so I want to enjoy it,” she said.

Kate eagerly awaits her coronation on Friday and the Grand Feature Parade on Saturday.

She even got a chance to learn a little of the history of the festival and Winchester by reading “The Trail of Pink Petals” by local author David Lee Brill.

Based on just a quick glimpse of Winchester on her drive in from Dulles, Kate said she’s impressed with the area’s history and beauty.

She also likes the small-city atmosphere, even though she spends much of her time in New York City.

“I’ve grown up in a small town,” she said of her family’s home in Westchester, N.Y. “You’ve got so much history here. It’s impressive.”

Kate will be crowned Queen Shenandoah LXXV at 1:30 p.m. on Friday at Handley High School.

Copyright © 2002 The Winchester Star