1940 Rose Queen Margaret Huntley Main Dons Her Crown Again For 100th Birthday
PASADENA (CBSLA) — The Pasadena Tournament of Roses on Tuesday celebrated the 100th birthday of Margaret Huntley Main, who was the tournament's Rose Queen in 1940.
Bob Miller, the 2022 Tournament of Roses president, surprised Main with 100 roses, a birthday cake, and her 1940 crown, which was borrowed from the archives for her to wear during a Zoom birthday party.
Main said she had dreamed of being a Rose Queen since she saw her first parade at 5 years old.
"I saw my first tournament exactly when I was 5 and a half. I remember watching the queen go down the street, and my daddy took my face, and said, 'Margaret Jane, there's more to the parade than the queen. Look down here,'" she recalled. "But he was wrong."
She was a student at Pasadena Junior College when she was named Rose Queen, a moment that almost brought her to tears.
"These people see something that I don't know was there," Main recalled thinking.
Main has the distinct honor of having met every Rose Queen, from the first in 1905 to the 2020 queen, according to tournament officials.