The SLUG Queen, slug queen, or S.L.U.G. Queen (an

acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

for the "Society for the Legitimization of the Ubiquitous

Gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...

"), is a humorous character concept considered to be the unofficial goodwill ambassador of the City Of

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census, Eu ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The Slug Queen presides over many popular events in Eugene, including the

Eugene Celebration The Eugene Celebration was a 3-day annual community celebration and civic event that has been held at the end of summer since 1983 in downtown Eugene, Oregon, United States. The parade held on Saturday morning features the newly crowned Slug Quee ...

(not held since 2015), an alternative

festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...

, an
The EUG Parade
The Slug Queen has never been the domain of the Eugene Celebration despite their origin connection. In fact, the Slug Queen concept was born as a direct response in opposition to the conventional nature of the name "Eugene Celebration". A new SLUG Queen is crowned on the second Friday in August after a public competition. The queen is named "SLUG" as a rebellious nod to the more common tradition of crowning agricultural queens, often selected for beauty, as opposed to wit and audacity. Slugs were selected to celebrate because they are ubiquitous in the

Willamette Valley The Willamette Valley ( ) is a long valley in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley and is surrounded by mountains on three sides: the Cascade Range to the east, ...

, they are antithetical to traditional or stereotypical mascots, and they symbolize creativity and unbridled good-natured humor. The newly crowned SLUG is referred to as the "Raining" SLUG Queen. After a year of "rain" the SLUG Queen is promoted to Old Queen (never former or past).

Coronation

The annual coronation process somewhat resembles a formal

beauty pageant A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, ...

, but with a

campy Camp is an aesthetic style and sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its bad taste and ironic value. Camp aesthetics disrupt many of modernism's notions of what art is and what can be classified as high art by inverting aes ...

spin. The

slug Slug, or land slug, is a common name for any apparently shell-less terrestrial gastropod mollusc. The word ''slug'' is also often used as part of the common name of any gastropod mollusc that has no shell, a very reduced shell, or only a smal ...

-themed pageant started in 1983, and Eugene celebrated the SLUG Queen coronation's 25th year with a Silver Jubilee in August 2007. The Silver Jubilee Queen is Old Queen Glorious Gastropause, also known as comedian Leigh Anne Jasheway. To date there are 36 SLUG Queens, the latest being "Raining" Queen Sluggarita Incognita. Slugs are gender neutral, therefore SLUG Queens may identify as any gender. As of 2018, nine of 36 SLUG Queens are male.

History

The Slug Queen was first conceived in 1983 as a backlash to the Eugene City Council choosing the characterless name 'Eugene Celebration' for a citywide festival. After the successful opening of the Hult Center in 1982, City Council determined that an annual celebration of Art, Culture, and commerce in Eugene would be advantageous. Cynthia Wooten, a

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

woman, was discussing the idea of a uniquely Eugene festival and parade with then City Manager Mike Gleason. Gleason purportedly wanted to name the city festival simply the 'Eugene Celebration' according to Wooten. Wooten, along with Karl Eysenbach and Paul Ollswang, argued for the name "Slugfest," but this was turned down by the rest of the City Council. Alana Probst organized the first Slugfest as an alternative to (and parody of) other cities'

s in her own backyard where the first Slug Queen was elected. The rebel group then entered a parade float in the first Eugene Celebration Parade shaped like a giant Slug with the first Slug Queen, a man named Bruce Gordon, riding in drag on it. This movement was in direct opposition to the wishes of the rest of the city council but was instantly popular with the crowds. The Slug Queen Competition and Coronation grew to be an annual event. Rather than perpetuating typical

beauty queen A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, ...

standards, the originators chose as their emblem a life form more in keeping with the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

's soggy

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologic ...

and Eugene's iconoclastic spirit: the humble slug. Since 1991, the Slug Queen coronation has been organized by Kim Still, who was the manager of the

Eugene Saturday Market The Eugene Saturday Market is an outdoor craft market in Eugene, Oregon. It is the oldest weekly open-air crafts market in the United States. It has a festival atmosphere that includes live performers as well as art and crafts displays and sales, ...

Selection Criteria

The new SLUG Queen is now selected annually on the second Friday evening in August in a three part competition that involves

costume Costume is the distinctive style of dress or cosmetic of an individual or group that reflects class, gender, profession, ethnicity, nationality, activity or epoch. In short costume is a cultural visual of the people. The term also was tradition ...

judging (based on campy appeal and overall sluggishness), a three-minute on-stage talent performance, and a single question designed to test the quick wit of each contestant.Slug Queen, "The History of Slug Queens"
/ref> The SLUG Queen is chosen by a collection of past queens officially referred to as "old," not "former" queens, as one of their mottoes is "once a Queen--always a Queen." The judges base their assessments on three factors: originality, creativity, and a flamboyant outgoing personality. One important aspect that sets the SLUG Queen pageant apart from others is that

bribery Bribery is the Offer and acceptance, offering, Gift, giving, Offer and acceptance, receiving, or Solicitation, soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With reg ...

is accepted and encouraged and the judging is done by a panel of Old Queens. The moment a new queen is crowned, the old queens are open to bribery. Creative bribes curry the most favor with the old queens. They annually remind budding hopefuls to "Bribe early and bribe often." Since SLUG Queens retain the title of queen for life, and the power to crown new queens, they remain a vibrant, visible and vocal part of the community in their royal character. They use this visibility to raise awareness and funds for local causes and charities and host events in character.

SLUG Queen duties

The new SLUG Queen presides over the parade at the

on a roving date in August, where the queen meets the public for her first official duty. She is also expected to open the Mayor's Art Show, and the Salon de Refuse, a pun on

Salon des Refusés The Salon des Refusés, French for "exhibition of rejects" (), is generally known as an exhibition of works rejected by the jury of the official Paris Salon, but the term is most famously used to refer to the Salon des Refusés of 1863. Today, by ...

, deliver a benediction at the

Maude Kerns Art Center Maude Irvine Kerns (August 1, 1876 – August 19, 1965) was an American artist and art educator, known for her avant-garde paintings. Her works were exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum, National Gallery of Art, and the Salon des Réalités Nouve ...

Jello Art Show in April, hold a charitable ball for the charity of her choice, and "rain" over the coronation for the following year's SLUG Queen. She may choose to make other appearances throughout the year including the

Oregon Country Fair The Oregon Country Fair (OCF) is a nonprofit organization and an annual three-day art and music fair held outside the city limits of Veneta, Oregon, United States. Located in the Willamette Valley, the site is about west of Eugene along the ...

Da Vinci Days Da Vinci Days is an annual festival held in Corvallis in the U.S. state of Oregon. The science, technology, and art based festival includes live music, a kinetic sculpture race during the summer event, and lecture series in the spring. The festiv ...

, ribbon cuttings and openings, fashion shows, and Art and the Vineyard, among others. The Slug Queens pride themselves on representing the diversity of the City of Eugene. Anyone over the age of 21 is electable, provided they are able to impress the Old Queens. Of the 32 Slug Queens to date, eight have been men, including: the first Slug Queen Bruce 1983; a postal worker, Queen Dave 1987; a student, Queen Marionberry 1994; a drag queen, Queen Bagonda 1997; an artist with cerebral palsy, Queen Peterella 1998; actor Mark Van Beever, Queen Anislugsia 2009; comedian Daniel Borson, Queen Professor Bulbous Slimbledore 2014; and disability rights advocate Mark Roberts, Queen Markalo Parkalo 2015. 1993 Very Old Queen Bananita Sluginsky, Sarah Ulerick, is the first Russian-Western-American SLUG Queen. In her spare time, she is Dean of Science at Lane Community College and a perennial favorite as emcee for the annual competition. Slug queens never lose their prestigious titles. After their "raining" year they are promoted to "Old Queen" for the next decade, then "Very Old Queen", "Very, Very Old Queen" and "Exquisitely Old Queen" at each subsequent decade .Slugretha Latifah Uleafa Gastropodia Jackson!
/ref> 2008's Queen "Marie Slugtoinette," appeared as a

hedcut Hedcut is a term referring to a style of drawing, associated with ''The Wall Street Journal'' half-column portrait illustrations. They use the stipple method of many small dots and the hatching method of small lines to create an image, and are ...

drawing on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. Slugtoinette's alter ego, Designer Constance Van Flandern, is also known for her work coining the term "Alpha Mom" for the cable network of the same name.

References

External links

SLUG Queen Eugene Site

Prof. Slimebledore is New Slug Queen

Slug Queen Competition Preps Under Way
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slug Queen Festivals in Eugene, Oregon Beauty pageants in the United States People from Eugene, Oregon 1983 establishments in Oregon Annual events in Eugene, Oregon History of women in Oregon