During the Spring each year, seven local civic clubs (Beta Sigma Phi, Bluebonnet Literacy, Gilmer Kiwanis, Gilmer Lions, Gilmer Rotary, Iris Garden, and the Twentieth Century) ask a young lady who resides in Upshur County and is completing her Junior year of High School, to represent them as their upcoming East Texas Yamboree Queen Candidate.

The Queen’s Race is a rigorous 12-day event where each candidate, her club, family, and friends canvas the community on foot, make phone calls, send letters, and post on social media and personal websites in an effort to raise money for the East Texas Yamboree and to fund many events: the carnival, queen’s coronation, various adult and youth contests, livestock and ag mechanic shows, fiddler’s contest, gospel singing, and barn dance, as well as many youth scholarships. At the conclusion of the race, the young lady who raised the most money is honorably crowned with the title of East Texas Yamboree Queen. As Queen, her duties begin immediately and will not end when the carnival rolls out of town in October. She will continue to be an ambassador for our community on many occasions until her reign ends and another race begins the next year.