The Inter-Mountain photo by Anthony Gaynor The Mountain State Forest Festival’s Queen Silvia LXXXVI Lilly Harper Ryan is crowned by West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner during a coronation ceremony Friday on the campus of Davis & Elkins College. For more coronation ceremony photos, turn to page B1.

ELKINS — The Mountain State Forest Festival’s 86th Queen Silvia was crowned Friday during a coronation ceremony under sunny skies.

West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner crowned Queen Silvia LXXXVI Lilly Harper Ryan at the Citizens Bank of WV Amphitheatre on the campus of Davis & Elkins College.

Royal trumpeteers Luca Aaron Collier, Gracelyn Kay Gooding, Preston James Herron, Aidan Matthew Lowther, and Levi Alan Workman provided fanfare for the queen and her court at the start of the ceremony.

Following the royal trumpeteers down Coronation Hill was the 2024 Woodly the Elf, Riley Richard Weeks, the MSFF mascot and the fabled painter of the forest.

Representing the many colors of the forest in their gowns were 40 royal princesses from across the Mountain State.

Princesses included Franchesca Aloi, Hanna Beam, Anna Belan, Jillian Bennett, Mary Beverage, Gabby Chico, Sydney Collett, Anna Crumm, Chloe Derring, Emerson Haddix, Madalyn Hickman, Krysten Jones, Isabella Judy, Jade Magee, Sidney Megna, Gracie Metheny, Mauren Miller, Cloie Moesso, Alyssa Moss, Corinne O’Conner, Lydia Plishka, Ailyah Plum, Saniya Pratt-Taylor, Emma Riffe, Cadence Ringer, Stephanie Santilli, Mia Sappey, Lillianna Scherm, Lexee Shearer, Abigall Sherill, Caroline Simmons, Emma Simmons, Taylor Skidmore, Fiona Smith, Emma Snyder, Braelynn Sparks-Tanner, Samantha Sproul, Lydia Wamsley, Kaitlynn Williamson and Delaney Wotring.

Following the princesses’ descent of Coronation Hill were flower girls Alaina James Bender, Adalynn Grace Cooper, Olivia Brooke Howell and Lillian Shae James.

Train Bearers Colt Owen DeBolt and Beckett Leam Pritt served Queen Silvia LXXXVI by holding the flowing train of her majestic gown as she descended Coronation Hill.

Ryan was also accompanied by her two Maids of Honor, Jaden Faith Pratt and Kourtney Nicole Jones.

Maid of Honor Pratt is the daughter of Seth and Michelle Pratt of Elkins.

Maid of Honor Jones is the daughter of John and Amanda Jones of Elkins.

Crown Bearer Tinsley Paige Harris assisted Warner in presenting Ryan with her crown. Scepter Bearer Kennadi Blake Mongold carried the symbol of power down the hill to the coronation stage.

Entertaining guests of the Mountain State Forest Festival during the coronation were royal jesters Olivia Gabrielle Chabut, Eva Leanna Collier, Holliana Elizabeth Huffman and Gwynneth Allison Walters.

The royal scouts for the coronation were Mackenzie Grace Swiger, Anna Noel Talbott, Izak Ray Elmore and Janson Howard Hardy.

Also present for coronation as the “Court Noblemen” were State Senator Robert Karnes, State Senator Bill Hamilton, Delegate Elias Coop-Gonzalez, Elkins Mayor Jerry Marco, W.Va. Department of Agriculture Commissioner Kent Leonhardt, West Virginia Commissioner of Culture and History Randall Reid-Smith and Davis & Elkins College President Chris Wood.

Ryan, 20, is the daughter of Retired Lieutenant Colonel Jerry “Chip” Floyd and Amy Floyd of Ona.  She is the granddaughter of Frank and Laura Santmyer of Elkins, Jim and Diana Sturm of Huntington, Norwin and Donna Lilly of South Charleston, Joe and Janet Richards of Charleston, Sandra Dennison of Ona and the late Jerry Floyd of Ona. She has one brother, Jaxon Santmyer, and two sisters, Anna and Erin Floyd. 

She is a 2021 graduate of Cabell Midland High School, where she graduated in the top 5% of her class with very high honors, was a member of the National Honor Society, Beta Club, and was an office and teacher assistant.

She is a senior at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where she will graduate with Honors with her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science with a minor in Disability Studies in December.