MISSION, Texas (ValleyCentral) — If you look close, you’ll notice there’s more to these dresses than bold color.
The annual Texas Citrus Fiesta in Mission features many young Rio Grande Valley girls in their big, bright and beautiful citrus-themed dresses–creatively crafted to honor citrus, limes, grapes and more.
Robert Rivera, office manager at Texas Citrus Fiesta, said each dress is uniquely made according to the request of the girl who will wear it. Things can get splashy as each young lady represents a particular citrus entity: lemon, tangerine, orange, watermelon and more. For example, the Dutches of Lemons is from Weslaco and must design a dress to meet that theme.
| Coming up: The Citrus Queen will be crowned at the Ruby Red Reception, scheduled to take place Feb. 4 at the Mission Event Center. |
The Texas Citrus Fiesta kicked off Jan. 14 with its Royal Gala, where young women from the community danced the night away in tailor-made dresses.
There are 25 dutchess vying for the Queen Citriana pageant crown. The queen’s court is made up of the princess of grape blossom, the princess of orange blossom and the lady in waiting.
Some other dresses that can be seen belong to the reigning royal court and young girls from the tangerine court, which is made up of 6-year-olds.
Just like the local produce showcased in the parade, the dresses are created by local seamstresses who help the girls generate a concept of what their dress design will look like before manufacturing them.
On Jan. 28, the girls and their court showed off beautiful, bejeweled and sequined gowns on floats and cars in the Parade of Oranges.
