This year’s Bell Tower Festival will include some new royalty.

The Gardens Assisted Living at Jefferson crowned its king and queen, who will also ride in the parade on Saturday, June 10th. The king is Marvin Book and the queen is JoAnn Peterson. Book has been a Jefferson resident since 1966 and he talks about why he’s chosen to stay in the same community for over five decades.

“The people. Everybody is so friendly and nice. It’s just an easy town to live in. You can feel comfortable wherever you go, crime rate is real low, and just a lot of nice people.”    

Peterson is a long time Grand Junction resident and she was asked if she had ever worn a crown before.

“I can’t remember a time. This is a celebration, a real honor. It is the first time, has been a lot of fun, I’m very humbled because there’s a lot of employees here. Why they selected me, I don’t know, but it’s fun.”     

The public is invited to honor Book and Peterson in the Jefferson Rotary Parade that will be at 11am next Saturday during the Bell Tower Festival.