By Brian Morgan
PLEASANT GROVE – The reigning Miss Pleasant Grove looks forward to attending the Strawberry Days celebrations this week in her hometown.
Jandee Mortensen, a BYU student seeking a double major in humanities and French, with minors in chemistry and Dance, was crowned Miss Pleasant Grove April 12 last year.
This year was her first time competing for the title. Her platform for the pageant was designed to help young girls be aware of the dangers of anorexia nervosa.
“I learned a lot by studying this subject and it was rewarding to work with the young women,” Mortensen said.
Working as a medical research paralegal at Flickinger and Sutterfield, a local law firm, as well as a volunteering in Utah Valley Regional Medical Center”s emergency room, Mortensen has to balance her busy life to be able to squeeze in all of her responsibilities as Pleasant Grove”s reigning queen.
“I live by my day planner,” Mortensen said. “I really believe that I can make time for everything if I use my time wisely.”
As part of her reign, Mortensen has visited with city councils around the county telling them about the Strawberry Days celebration. She and her three attendants met with Gov. Mike Leavitt in May.
“I grew up in Pleasant Grove and have always attended Strawberry Days, but this is the first time I have really seen all the work that goes into the celebration,” Mortensen said.
Mortensen has worked around the clock with her attendants to help with the festivities. They helped build the Pleasant Grove float, which will be in all of the major parades in the valley this summer.
“It has been a ton of fun working with Jandee,” said Lacy Griffin, second attendant. “Jandee is a great person that treats everyone equally. She”s really smart, but a lot of fun.”
Although things have been busy for the girls, first attendant Lizzy Marchbanks said they have all gotten along really well.
Mortensen stands out in her family – she is the only girl and her five brothers are all a quarter Tongan.
Her father Cody Mortensen died when she was young. Her mother JoDee later remarried a Tongan native, Alfred Mickelsen.
In preparation for the upcoming Miss Utah Pageant, Mortensen”s platform consists of volunteering for a humanitarian aid relief team. She helps the team raise money to travel to Ghana to perform organ reconstruction for needy individuals.
Students high on life and low on cash can spend their week in Pleasant Grove for the annual Strawberry Days.
The week”s festivities begin Monday, June 16 as the Pleasant Grove Veterans” Memorial Pool opens its doors at 6 p.m. to the public for a free night of swimming.
Each day of the week will be filled with plenty of activities for students and kids of all ages, including a 5K run, concert in the park and – yes, a rodeo with enough strawberries and cream to feed the whole county.
“We are really excited about this year”s celebration,” said Frank Mills, president of the Strawberry Days Committee. “Last year, we used more than 7,000 cases of strawberries during the weeklong celebration. We anticipate using even more this week.”
Provo”s Fourth of July celebration is one of the largest in the state and attending a Strawberry Days event is one way to get into the patriotic spirit.
Pleasant Grove was settled in 1850 by the Mormon pioneers, where they found strawberries growing all around the Pleasant Grove area. The celebration of Strawberry Days started when the pioneers helped each other survive the long winters and enjoyed the summers by sharing in the feast of strawberries.
Strawberry Days has been a tradition in Pleasant Grove every June. To date, Strawberry Days is the longest continuing community celebration in Utah.
The Pleasant Grove royalty will attend many of the events, including the nightly rodeo beginning June 18.
Current Miss Pleasant Grove, BYU student Jandee Mortensen will make her appearance at the rodeo each night along with her three attendants: Lizzy Marchbanks, Michelle Greenhalgh and Lacey Griffin.
Keith Isley, Entertainer of the Year in 2000, will be the clown for this year”s four-day rodeo. He amused crowds of stadium goers two years ago by showing off his horse riding tricks and comical personality.
The rodeo begins Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. and run nightly through Saturday. One of the national bullfighter finalists from Australia will be riding Saturday night. As in years past, this year”s rodeo will also feature bullfighting, wild cow milking, “mutton bustin,” and plenty of strawberries and cream.
“Mutton bustin” highlights boys and girls under the age of 14 coming out of the bullfighter gates riding sheep.
As one of the sponsors of the celebration, Macey”s will give a $1,000 gift certificate in a drawing at Saturday night”s rodeo and $200 the other three nights.
“They called the ticket number of my buddy”s wife sitting right next to me last year,” said Tim Anderson, a BYU student, majoring in marriage, family and human development. “They won $1,000. It was awesome.”
Rodeo tickets can be purchased at the rodeo grounds for $6 Wednesday and $8 Thursday and Friday.
Although the rodeo is generally the event that attracts the most people, many other activities are available for students to enjoy.
Tuesday from 7 p.m. until 8:30 p.m., musical artist John Schmidt will perform a free concert on the soccer field east of the pool. Strawberries and cream will be free for all that attend the concert Tuesday.
“John sells out wherever he goes, so we”re pretty lucky to have him for free this year,” Mills said.
For students interested in crafty items, a boutique will also be available Thursday and Friday at the downtown park from noon until 9:30 p.m., and Saturday from noon to 6:30 p.m.
The community center will also celebrate with a pie-eating contest Friday night and a carnival Friday and Saturday evening.
A 5K run will begin Saturday at 8 a.m. at the community center and the Mammoth Parade will scoot through historic downtown from 10 a.m. to noon.
If students are not into watching grown men get bucked off of angry bulls, they can do-si-do at the community center for the country swing dance, beginning Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
Throughout the week, members of the community will be recognized for their accomplishments and goodwill. Each year the Strawberry Days Committee selects a grand marshal to represent the city, who announced the Miss Pleasant Grove Pageant in April. This is generally a couple in the community.
This year the committee could not decide between three candidates, so they gave the title of grand marshal to all of them, said Gary Clay, secretary of the Strawberry Days Committee.
“They are all wonderful people and great models in the community,” Clay said.
The grand marshals for this year are Marcella Walker, and Mike and Karen Johnson.
As a BYU graduate, Walker has been the heartbeat of Pleasant Grove for more than 20 years, according to Kalyn Secretan of the Pleasant Grove Review. Walker has served the people of Pleasant Grove in many ways.
Secretan said Walker has adopted Pleasant Grove as her hometown as she helps produce the monthly newsletter and works as a Deputy Recorder for many years.
The Johnsons have lived in Pleasant Grove for more than 40 years. They currently work at Mutual Dell in American Fork Canyon as the caretakers for the property owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
