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All hail the king and queen

Daily Staff Report
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VAIL – Breaking a record for Vail Daily online poll participation, 4,218 votes were cast to determine this year’s Vail Mardi Gras queen and king. Cassie Pence and Mark Bricklin of the Vail Daily were crowned with the honor Tuesday following the parade in Vail Village.

“Cass and I called and e-mailed all of our friends and family, anyone we could think of all across the country to go and vote on the site. And then we told them to tell their friends to vote,” said Bricklin, marketing director for the paper. “We got the idea from Ian Anderson who was on KZYR telling everyone they could vote as many times as they wanted.”

The Ruli family, New Orleans natives who lost everything in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, were guests of honor at the parade. They judged the float contest. Vail Sales and Marketing Team, “Krewe de Bacchus,” won with their mini-van float, which trailed a large handcrafted big bottle of wine. The krewe was dressed in togas, and leaves and grapes capped their heads.



Participants ate their way to the Game Creek Restaurant during the king-cake eating contest. Winners took home a dinner certificate for two.

Revelers of all ages filled the streets for the parade. Dressed in colorful boas, sparkly masks and purple, green and gold – the official colors of Mardi Gras – partiers leaped and lunged for beads tossed from moving floats, so they too could return home with some bragging rights of their own.

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