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Mid-Ohio Valley Multicultural Festival pageant winner dedicated to service

Photo Provided Dana Johnson, 2019 Multicultural Festival Forever Queen, and her son Payton Johnson at the Child Advocacy Center in Parkersburg where they dropped off a donation.

PARKERSBURG — The 2019 Mid-Ohio Valley Multicultural Festival Forever Queen says she’s dedicating her career to service.

Dana Johnson, 29, Davisville, was chosen during a pageant earlier this month.

Johnson, who also models, competed in the pageant last year and finished as a runner-up.

“This was only my second pageant,” she said. “This is my first title.”

Johnson, a Parkersburg High School graduate, is the daughter of Lori Johnson of Belpre and Richard Johnson of New River Gorge, W.Va. Her grandmother is Judy Johnson.

Photo Provided From left, Multicultural Festival Mrs. Jessica Madison, Multicultural Festival Teen Alexah Terry, Multicultural Festival Queen Ally Harper, Multicultural Festival Ms. Gabrielle Maynard, Multicultural Festival Forever Queen Dana Johnson, Multicultural Festival Pre-Teen Jasmine Wright. The 24th annual festival will be held June 21-23 at City Park in Parkersburg.

She will enter nursing school this fall at West Virginia University at Parkersburg with the goal of becoming a registered nurse.

As the festival queen, Johnson is involved with volunteering at several local children’s advocacy and support programs and a homeless organization in Wood County.

She volunteers at the Children’s Home Society and the Child Advocacy Center, which offer programs helping children, and at House to Home, a non-profit helping people make the transition from homelessness.

Johnson hopes to expand to other agencies in West Virginia.

“We will be doing this all over West Virginia,” she said.

While attending other festivals in the state, she’ll offer her services or make donations as needed, she said.

“Whatever they need,” Johnson said.

Johnson said she got involved in the pageant through Sara Taylor, the pageant director who she has known for about seven years.

Her experience as a model, which has included a shoot for a Barnes and Noble calendar, was preparation for a pageant because modeling is not unlike the competition, Johnson said.

While she has not participated in pageants, she is familiar with them.

“I go to all of them,” she said.

The 24th edition of the Mid-Ohio Valley Multicultural Festival will be held June 21-23 at City Park in Parkersburg.

Other 2019 winners were Multicultural Festival Mrs. Jessica Madison, Multicultural Festival Teen Alexah Terry, Multicultural Festival Queen Ally Harper, Multicultural Festival Ms. Gabrielle Maynard and Multicultural Festival Pre Teen Jasmine Wright.

Harper, 17, a junior at Point Pleasant Junior-Senior High School who has participated in pageants since she was 10 years old, was the Point Pleasant Sternwheel Regatta Teen Queen for 2017 and first runner-up for the 2018 Miss Battle Days and first runner-up for the Miss Twin Rivers competition.

In January, Harper will participate in the West Virginia Association of Fairs and Festivals Pageant.

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