GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colorado – When Lexie Warkentin was a young girl, she remembers wanting to be just like 2004 Miss Strawberry Days Molly Ackerman. At Friday’s start to the 115th Annual Strawberry Days Festival, Warkentin did just that.

“I just think Miss Strawberry Days should be someone to look up to,” Warkentin said. “And I remember Molly Ackerman when I was younger – I just looked up to her.”

Warkentin, 18, of Glenwood Springs, was crowned Miss Strawberry Days on the event’s main stage at Sayre Park. She was one of 11 contestants who participated in the Miss Strawberry Days fashion show, featuring clothing and accessories from local shops and boutiques. The experience was a first for Warkentin.

“I haven’t really done pageants or anything,” she said. “I’m usually more of a sporty type, so I just gave it a try and decided to wing it. Once you get up there the nerves just go away and your personality just soars.”

A 2012 graduate of Glenwood Springs High School, Warkentin played on the Demons girl’s basketball and volleyball teams. During her senior year, she earned spots on the All-4A Western Slope League first teams in both sports. She plans to attend the University of Northern Colorado, utilizing the $3,000 scholarship awarded as the Miss Strawberry Days winner, to study sports and exercise science. Warkentin dedicated her creative outfit in Friday’s fashion show to her longtime love of basketball, donning red and back shorts and jersey and dribbling a ball.

“It was just so much fun, to get to know all of the girls, and just get so close with the girls,” she said. “It’s so great to get all of Glenwood together like this.”

Miss Strawberry Days contestant Keera Clark, also a 2012 GSHS graduate, enjoyed her return to the stage after winning the public vote last year. She went with a paragliding theme, complete with parachute, for her creative outfit.

“Every year I feel like I come out a little more of the box,” said Clark, who described herself as somewhat shy. “It’s just nice to do something different and get to hang out with all the girls.”

Clark’s father, Ken, was on hand at the fashion show to root on his 18-year-old daughter. She was born and raised in Glenwood Springs.

“I’m so proud of her for doing something outside of the box,” he said. “It’s really great to see her out there doing something out of the ordinary.”

Candidate Rachel Rosenberg was first runner-up, winning a $2,500 college scholarship, and Nikki Nichols was second runner-up as well as the Miss Congeniality winner, totaling $2,500 in scholarships. Bighorn Toyota donated $8,000 to fund the college scholarships.

Prior to the fashion show, nearly 50 Strawberry Princesses, ages 5-11, lined up for the second year to take the stage individually in everything from pink sequins and hair bows, to kid-sized cowgirl boots and glitter. The girls walked the runway, waving, and sometimes even blowing kisses, to the crowd. First-time princess Kathadina Ortiz, 11, sported a shiny aquamarine blue dress and rhinestone tiara and earrings for her Strawberry Days runway debut.

“I was a little nervous,” she said. “But I loved it.”

Maybe someday she’ll be the next Lexie.