By David Vitrano

L’Observateur

RESERVE – Chrissy Carter was crowned St. John Sugar Queen LXIII Saturday Night at the conclusion of the annual extravaganza at St. John Theatre.

Carter, whose sister, Cheree Carter, earned the crown in 2002, is a veteran of the Reserve stage, although this was the first time she competed in the St. John Sugar Queen Pageant. She enjoyed vigorous crowd support throughout the evening and beat out nine other young ladies for the title.

“I was so excited to compete with all these wonderful girls,” said Carter after winning the crown. “I love my community, and it was always a dream of mine to represent the parish I love and the sugar industry, which means so much to the area.”

The newest St. John Sugar Queen is the daughter of David and Stephanie Carter of LaPlace. She is a 2009 graduate of St. Charles Catholic High School and is currently studying mass communication and electronic media at Southeastern Louisiana University.

While in high school, Carter was named 2005 Comet Queen and has appeared in numerous productions at St. John Theatre — a factor that helped her feel at ease during the pageant.

“It has really helped me in this pageant,” she said.

The theme for the pageant was “Celebrating America,” and it featured entertainment based around popular American culture throughout the decades.

Barbara “BaBa” Oncale, one of the pageant’s organizers, thought this year’s pool of contestants was strong.

“I think all 10 girls, they just cared about each other. They were sincere,” she said. “You really didn’t know who was going to win because we had 10 beautiful girls.”

Carter will represent St. John the Baptist Parish at the State Sugar Queen Pageant in New Iberia Sept. 24.

A full list of the evening’s winners follows:

• People’s Choice – Jasmine Tregre

• Photogenic – Kristina Colletta

• Congeniality – Chrissy Carter

• Fashion – Jasmine Tregre

• Third Runner Up – Jasmine Tregre

• Second Runner Up – Kristen Levron

• First Runner Up – Kristina Colletta

• Sugar Queen – Chrissy Carter