Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival^® Crowns Lillian Lewis Miss Spirit of Apple Blossom Volunteer Teen

The Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival^® crowned its first Miss Spirit of Apple Blossom Volunteer Teen on Saturday, January 17, 2026. 

Lillian Lewis, a sixteen-year-old sophomore at John Handley High School was crowned the title of Miss Spirit of Apple Blossom Volunteer Teen after competing in the Miss Apple Blossom Pageant in November. She will join Miss Apple Blossom Volunteer, Olivia Escalante, and Miss Apple Blossom Teen Volunteer, Brilea Hamilton, as official hosts during the 99^th Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival which takes place from April 24 through May 3, 2026. Lewis will go on to compete for the title of Miss Spirit of Virginia Teen in Lynchburg this August. 

Pageant co-directors, Susan Helsley and Linda Edwards, hosted the crowning at the Hilton Garden Inn where festival leaders, friends and family celebrated the occasion. “We are so thrilled that Miss Apple Blossom has now gone to Virginia Volunteer, so we had the option to crown three young ladies. [With Virginia Volunteer] the winners come away with so many scholarships,” said Helsley. 

Of her new title, Lewis said, “I’m just so excited and grateful for this opportunity and am looking forward to meeting so many people throughout Apple Blossom.” She first learned of the Miss Apple Blossom pageant two years ago when she attended as an audience member, and last spring she began working towards the goal of competing.

To learn more about Miss Apple Blossom Volunteer, please visit https://www.missappleblossom.com.