WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Maine State Society has announced the selection of Sarah Carmichael Gamble, 20, of Bethel, as Maine’s Cherry Blossom Princess for the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C., from April 3 to 9.

The daughter of Leslie and Linda Gamble, she is the first Maine Princess from Bethel and the second from Oxford County in the 58-year history of the festival.

Gamble is a graduate of Telstar Regional High School, where she was valedictorian of her graduating class and the recipient of the 2003 Principal’s Award. She was a member of the Future Business Leaders of America, the National Honor Society, class secretary and was active in cross country running and nordic skiing.

Gamble is a second-year student in the Honors College at the University of Maine in Orono, majoring in history with a minor in dance and museum education. She participates in the Pride of Maine Black Bear Marching Band as a member of the dance team, serves as a lifeguard at the university campus pool, is a member of Alpha Lambda Delta Honor and Golden Key honor societies and teaches a fourth-grade Sunday school class at an Orono church. During the summer, she was a volunteer counselor at the American Legion annual Maine Girls State Program.

To celebrate the blossoming of the cherry trees and American-Japanese friendship, the city hosts the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival sponsored by the National Conference of State Societies and other civic organizations.

Beginning with the 1948 festival, National Conference-member states and territorial societies have selected and sponsored princesses during festival week.

Each year a Festival Queen is chosen by a spin of the “Wheel of States,” and she represents the United States, her state and the National Conference in Japan at that nation’s Cherry Blossom Festival.

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