This year celebrates the 72nd Annual Neches River Festival.

Festivities begin with the King’s Arrival and Media Party April 14 and end with a coronation and ball on April 25.

During this 13-day celebration, there will be community activities including the announcement of the King Neches LXXII and the 2020 Citizen of the Year, Street Party on Crockett Street, Children’s Parade, annual parade through downtown, a lavish Coronation at the Julie Rogers Theatre, Coronation Ball at the Beaumont Civic Center and more.

The Neches River Festival invites senior girls that attend a Beaumont high school or live in Beaumont to be Princesses. Each Princess invites an escort to accompany them at Coronation and Ball. The Princesses and Escorts are eligible to receive the Otho Plummer Scholarship at Lamar University.

The Neches River Festival also invites junior or senior girls that attend a high school outside of Beaumont or live outside of Beaumont to be a duchess in the festival.

The education that youth participants receive throughout the festival is invaluable.

They have an opportunity to showcase their interviewing skills, ability to interact with adults, as well as their peers, and present themselves in front a live audience. The importance of family and community is defined throughout the springtime celebration.

It takes the consistent effort of many local volunteers to bring the Neches River Festival to life.

Importantly, The Neches River Festival celebrates our youth, celebrates our community, and celebrates the importance of the Neches River to our entire Southeast Texas’ area.

You can learn more about the festival by visiting nechesriverfestival.com.