By ROBIN SHANNON

Staff Reporter

RESERVE – Channeling the atmosphere of Las Vegas, organizers of the Andouille Festival Pageant crowned a new queen and teen queen during festivities Saturday.

Kristen Levron, 19, of Garyville beat out four other contestants to become the pageant’s 29th queen. Levron assumed the crown from 2007 winner Brandi Millet.

“It was a big shock for me,” said Levron on the Monday following her win. “I’m still excited. Still trying to take it all in.”

Levron, a sophomore at Delgado Community College in New Orleans, is the daughter of John and Katrina Levron of Garyville. She said she is pursuing a degree in interior design and hopes one day to open her own business designing kitchens and bathrooms. She also has aspirations of opening a “no kill” animal shelter one day.

Levron is no stranger to the Andouille pageant. She has participated in the event since 2003. She has also previously been crowned Miss Tri-State Gumbo Queen in 2004.

In the teen pageant, 16-year-old MaQuee Hollins outlasted six other participants to take the teen queen crown.

“It was definitely a shock, I was not expecting to hear my name,” Hollins said. “The girls in my category had been doing it for so long, I just wasn’t expecting it.”

Hollins is the daughter of Carnell and QuoVadis Hollins of LaPlace. She is a junior at St. Charles Catholic High School with plans to attend The Juilliard School in New York.

Hollins’ win was her first following two previous tries in the pageant. She was crowned Saturday by 2007 winner Brook Stein.

To go along with the Vegas theme of the evening, the pageant included performances by impersonators assuming the roles of Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and Sonny and Cher.

Levron and Hollins will appear in events surrounding the Andouille Festival, being held this Friday through Sunday on the grounds of the St. John Community Center on Highway 51 in LaPlace.