Wrangell Sentinel -

Wrangellites and visitors to the island gave heartily to the 2012 royalty contestants and raised more than $80,000 in ticket sales to support the Wrangell Chamber of Commerce and their plans for the 2013 Fourth of July celebration in the borough.

The 2012 participants; Laura Massin, Jaynee Fritzinger and Veronica Blunt, brought in a record total of $80,318 in ticket sales – an immense increase over 2011’s total sales of more than $45,000 raised by the pair of Loni Buness and Jasmine Hernandez.

Buness sold 32,690 tickets in 2011, with Hernandez adding 12,360 tickets of her own.

According to Chamber office manager Cyni Waddington, the Chamber is looking to exceed its sales goal in 2013.

“The goal was $70,000 for the girls this year,” Waddington said. “Because we did an outstanding job this year, and raised the bar so high, our goal for 2013 is $100,000.”

Queen Laura Massin, who sold 28,558 tickets, said the experience was amazing to her – and a blessing from above.

“It was very important to me to take part in this,” Massin said. “When I first came here, Wrangell helped me a lot, and for me, it was a way to give back.”

Selling more than $28,000 in tickets is something she said was not easy, but worth the while.

“I’m not going to lie, but it was hard work,” she added. “When you set your mind to something and you have a goal, you can do it and I enjoyed every minute of it.”

Massin also added that her faith is what pushed her to do so well.

“I wanted to give the best of me, and I believe in God, so when you listen to that inside voice, everything comes along,” she added.

Princess Jaynee Fritzinger came in a close second to Massin, by a margin of only 98 tickets, with 28,460 sold. Princess Veronica Blunt sold 23,300 tickets.

“It was a wonderful effort on the part of the Queen contestants and their teams,” said Chamber president John Taylor. “It was fantastic for Wrangell and our Fourth of July celebration.”

After the coronation of Massin on July 3, the next most important contest for the Chamber’s fundraising effort was the ticket pull for winners of up to $5,000 in cash. The drawing of the 1st place ticket fell to Massin, who drew for Irene Thelander. Fritzinger was next up, drawing a $3,000 ticket for Scott Forgue of Soldotna. Blunt drew a winning $500 ticket, which went to Colin Kuester, while singer Kayla Hay drew the 4th place $500 ticket for Jerry Bakeberg.