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The Queen of Spam, antique cars and Spam, prizes and Spam, Spam, Spam ... photo by Bob Pennell If ever the word "lean" can be used alongside the word "Spam," this is the time. The Shady Cove Spam Festival had its debut in 1999. It's back after a one year hiatus as the Spam Parade, minus the festival. "It's leaner and meaner," says organizer Alma Spicer of Shady Cove. The parade is scheduled to start at 10 Saturday morning, with entries gathering in the city parking lot beginning at 9:15. Look for more than 30 entries including floats, the Queen of Spam (a woman in red, 6-inch platform shoes riding in a little red wagon) and her Mosquitos Court, antique cars and a Spam grand marshal. A Spam jam and awards ceremony follow at noon in Two Pines Square with $2,000 in prizes, including a grand prize of $1,000. There was no parade last year, but organizers say they want the canned meat fete to be an annual event. "We couldn't get our act together last year," Spicer says. "But the Queen said to do it again, and when the Queen speaks we all listen." The 1999 Spam Queen, Shady Cove restaurant owner Charlotte Boehm, is expected to return with her scepter, a chunk of Spam on a stick. Among the missing at this point is Jason Jermain's Spammobile. A 1962 Volkswagen van in a former life, in 1999 it was a ringer for a canned meat container in dark blue with big yellow letters and a pink, gelatinous substance coming out the top. "We haven't been able to find him," Spicer says. The two-day event is dedicated to the canned meat Americans had a love-hate relationship with during World War II. Judges include actor Dick Tretter and mayors Tom Anderson of Shady Cove, Jim Goan of Eagle Point and Mike Turner of Prospect. Dick Bailey of radio station KCMX will present a booby prize. Look for a T-shirt booth, check out a daffodil booth for fall planting, and get your bet down early for the second annual Rubber Duck Regatta planned for Sunday in Shady Cove's Regional Park. Bring a can of Spam for ACCESS to share with needy Southern Oregonians or chip in to the Shady Cove Businessmen's Golf Invitational. There's a booth to benefit the Wood House restoration project. Activities associated with the 1999 festival like breakfast, church services, Indian drumming, art exhibits and so on aren't part of this year's lineup. The event may be slimmer than it started out, but, hey, it's still believed to be the only Spam event in the nation with its own parade and a queen. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.