THOMASVILLE – The 104th edition of the Rose Show and Festival on Friday once again featured beautiful roses competing for the honor to be called Queen of the Show. That honor this year went to Glenn Schulman from Pensacola, Florida, for ‘Sister Ruby.’ He has won the competition multiple times over his two-plus decades of entering the event.

“Thomasville is still one of the more competitive shows, so it means a lot more winning at Thomasville versus other shows,” Schulman said.

This year’s annual show started with the Thomasville High School marching band, performing its rendition of “Everything’s Coming Up Roses.”

Mayor Todd Mobley welcomed everyone to the second-oldest rose show in the U.S. and recognized Miss Thomasville, Macy Taylor, who served as the Rose Show Queen.

“The Rose Show and Festival has become a time-honored Southwest Georgia tradition for 104 years,” Mobley said. “I would like to thank Gail Altman, Joanne Maxheimer and all the members of the Rose Society for their part in organizing this show and their continued dedication to maintaining their standard of excellence that is truly impressive.”

All roses featured in the show were grown by the men and women who exhibited them. Entrants could not have purchased a rose and entered it in the show. The King of Show was presented to Bill and Jill Chappell for ‘Hot Prince.’ The Chappells were also awarded Princess of Show for ‘Tan Cho.’

“This is the 104th annual Rose Show, and it’s a big part of Thomasville’s annual Rose Festival. It’s a central part of it every year,” said Sunny Altman, volunteer with the Thomasville Rose Society. “We are a show accredited through the American Rose Society. We have rose growers from across the Southeast and right here from Thomasville come and enter roses. We have American Rose Society judges come in and judge roses across 42 different classes. Each class has its own winner. We also pick every year a Queen of Show; our No. 1 best rose in the show.

“The judges are looking for the most perfect example of that rose, in terms of color, form, shape and in terms of foliage. They look against all of the other roses that were entered and pick the best example. That is our Queen of Show.”