Cheney High School senior goes from crowd to highlight in this year’s Torchlight parade

After being on the sidelines of the Armed Forces Torchlight Parade for years, Lilac Queen Hayden Bowdish is ready to lead it.

Bowdish was born and raised in Spokane County and has been watching Lilac parades since she was a newborn. Now a senior at Cheney High School, she said her mother never let her miss one.

“She has been my best friend throughout my upbringing,” Bowdish said. “She never let me miss seeing the beautiful floats with the princesses and giving them the waves.”

Having moved to Cheney from Spokane earlier in her childhood, she capitalized on the opportunity to be selected to the court to regain a connection with the city.

“When I moved out to Cheney, I felt like I had lost that connection with my hometown, it being such an important part of my upbringing. So my senior year, when I saw a flyer looking for servant leaders and a way to get back involved with my hometown community, I definitely jumped at the opportunity.”

The process began with 17 ambassadors, one from each participating high school, given extensive training in subjects such as self-defense, resume writing and interview training. Through interviews, those 17 were narrowed down on Feb. 28 to the seven princesses who form the Royal Court. The seven princesses spent a month on public appearances and additional roundtable sessions, focused on Spokane-specific involvement. Bowdish almost didn’t apply to be an ambassador in the first place, going into the initial selection process on a whim.

“I walked into the room not exactly prepared, and it was all of our administrators and staff at this table, and they started asking me these questions about involvement in my community and what I would do for the city of Spokane,” Bowdish said. “I immediately was like, ‘Oh, I’m worried about this. Maybe I’m not the candidate they’re looking for,’ but I did my best job. I was authentically myself.”

After months of training, Bowdish was selected queen on March 28. Immediately, she saw outreach and support from her peers.

“Right after I was named queen, it was hard to believe, and I wasn’t very grounded in the situation. One of my princesses came up to me and asked me how I was feeling, which meant very much to me at that moment. She told me how much I was deserving of the position, when I didn’t exactly feel that deserving at the moment. Having that support right from the get-go meant the absolute world to me.”

Bowdish emphasized how she has grown throughout the process of being selected queen.

“I’ve always been harder on myself because I’m a leader that likes to work from behind the scenes. I’m not always the loudest in a room, and I always saw that as a weakness. Now that I no longer see it as a weakness, I definitely feel empowered by it.”

Bowdish spoke on the impact her mother has had on her life and job as Lilac Queen.

“Throughout my entire life, she’s been solely focused on giving me every opportunity possible to succeed, and the Lilac Festival has been no exception,” Bowdish said. “She’ll be there, ready, waking up early and making me a meal before I have to go to an event. I don’t know what I would do without her.”

The role of Lilac Queen demands more than outside observers see.

“I think people don’t realize how much you have to sacrifice in order to do all of this. We have a lot of athletes on our court, and just seeing them try to balance their sport with this program is beyond impressive,” Bowdish said. “I’ve definitely had to step back from some of my other obligations in order to make my duties as Lilac Queen possible. It’s worth it, but sometimes it can be a little bit difficult.”

Bowdish has been accepted to Washington State University’s Honors College, where she plans to study management information systems and accounting. The festival is an opportunity to indulge in Spokane’s culture before she leaves.

“I think the parade is the most fun part of this entire experience. There’s no standards being put on us. We’re going to go up on that float. We’re going to be ourselves. We’re going to interact with our community, and finally, relish in all the hard work that’s been put into this,” Bowdish said. “It’s definitely going to be a full circle moment. It’s going to be a grounding moment. It just ties together my upbringing and then finally, me leaving Spokane, and my roots finally blossoming.”