TYLER, Texas (KETK) – KETK News is highlighting the ladies making big moves from Piney Woods. This week, we sat down with this year’s Texas Rose Festival Queen before she returned to college.

Meet Laura Bryan of Tyler, the 2023 Texas Rose Festival Queen.

“I’m looking forward to just being a spokesperson for the city and representing and being able to follow in the legacy of all of the 89 queens before me,” said Laura Bryan.

Bryan is a junior at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, serving in a leadership position in the Chi Omega sorority.

“I’m the current co-philanthropy chair,” said Bryan. “I spent a lot of my time working on that, working with Make-A-Wish North Texas.”

Each year, the Rose Queen is granted a check. However, Bryan chose to donate her money to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

“I know when I was young, the Rose Queen is someone you always look up to, and so I think it’s really special to be able to serve that role,” said Bryan.

The Texas Rose Festival marks a milestone as this is its 90th year celebrating the Rose Capital’s rich history. The theme is the Story of Film.

“It’s just really relatable with the audience because everyone loves movies; they’re really fun,” said Bryan. “You’re gonna see your favorite films on stage in beautiful dress form, and so it really blows my mind what they’ve been able to do with it.”

As far as what she looks forward to, Bryan said, “I think I’m most excited for the coronation because it’s something I grew up going to every year, and it’s such a theatrical beautiful production every year.”

We will all see Bryan’s story play out this October.