Tournoi Pageant held:

By: HEATHER
BOGARD
Associate Editor

The annual Tournoi Pageant was held Saturday evening, August 23, at the Northside Civic Center in Ville Platte. Winners and runners-up were announced as follows:
Junior Tournoi Queen: Arris Fontenot, the 12-year-old daughter of Dirk and Rose Fontenot of Ville Platte, was named Junior Tournoi Queen. She is currently a seventh grade student at Sacred Heart Junior High School. Her hobbies include swimming, dancing, sewing and baking. She is a member of FBLA, Junior Catholic Daughters, Evangeline Parish 4-H and EPYB basketball.
Fontenot sings in the choir at church and volunteers at the Ville Platte Recreational Park. She was also the Little Tournoi Queen in 2019. She enjoys traveling, football, basketball, softball and any kind of animal, especially horses, cows, chickens and rabbits.
Upon graduating from high school, she plans to attend LSU to pursue a degree in nursing and professional sports media.
Teen Tournoi Queen: Ann-Kathryn Vidrine, the 15-year-old daughter of Brock Vidrine and Jessica Shuff of Ville Platte, was announced as Teen Tournoi Queen. She is a freshman at Pine Prairie High School, where she is a cheerleader and statistician for the softball team. She is also a member of BETA and FBLA. She enjoys spending time with her family and friends. After high school, Vidrine plans to attend cosmetology school and then build her own business.
Cheyenne Messer, the 16-year-old daughter of Danny Deshotel and Angela Deshotel, of Ville Platte, was named first alternate to the new Teen Queen.
Louisiana Tournoi Queen: Taylyn Isabella LaCombe, the 17-year-old daughter of Dondi and Rebecca LaCombe of Marksville, was crowned Louisiana Tournoi Queen. She is a senior at Bunkie Magnet High School and a dual enrolled student at LSU-Alexandria. She enjoys dancing, speech competitions and voluteering at the local nursing home. She serves as the BETA class president, and is a member of FBLA, dance line, golf team, FCA, student council and National Honor Society.
LaCombe, an honor recipient throughout her academic career, teaches Vacation Bible School, participates in BETA fundraisers, and collects items for nursing home residents. She is also a member of the Spring Bayou Restoration Committee.
After graduating from high school, LaCombe plans to attend Northwestern State University to pursue a degree in nursing with the goal of specializing in labor and delivery.
The Miss Court was rounded out by first alternate Elsie Sloane, the 18-year-old daughter of Cyrus and Joannie Sloane of Opelousas; second alternate Brooklyn White, the 17-year-old daughter of Jeremy and Angela White of Ville Platte; and third alternate Ella Buettner, the 17-year-old daughter of Trish Rabalais and Charles Buettner of Maurice.
Ms. Tournoi Queen:
Kimberly Naquin Fontenot, the daughter of Jessie and Phyllis Naquin of Broussard, was selected as Ms. Tournoi Queen. She is an RN at Our Lady of Lourdes in the acute critical care dialysis unit. A graduate of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, she has been a nurse for 15 years. Her hobbies include helping her daughter with her horse and equestrian riding lessons while taking care of the horse and learning to ride again. She enjoys supporting her daughters and attending their competitions, Cajun dancing and doing make-up.
Naquin has also held the Louisiana Tournoi title in 2007, as well as being named the first Ms. Frog Festival Queen at the Rayne Frog Festival. Her future plans include moving forward in her career as a critical care nurse specializing in dialysis and possibly going back to school to become a nurse practitioner.
Aimee White, the daughter of Don and Regina White of Dry Prong, was chosen as first alternate to the new Ms. Queen; and Tori Lazard, the daughter of Shannon Lazard and Bobby Gailes of Ville Platte, was chosen as second runner-up.