This year’s August 11 SLUG queen competition featured seven competitors vying for the title of SLUG queen. Jilynn Cherish (Jubilee Hedonisto), Alexandra Tigue (Luci Morningstar), Leigh Manning (Slugeralla), Stormi (King Floofmcbean), Scar Farris (Silly Von Seaslug), Bethany Grace Howe (Dr. Slugracie Eleganza) and Justin Stafford (Trail La Slime) all sought to have their own rain.

Jubilee Hedonisto has taken the crown from her six other potential queens to enact her own “rain” of sluggishness over Eugene via the Society for the Legitimization of the Ubiquitous Gastropod, or SLUG. 

The SLUG coronation had four celebrity judges: local comedian and purveyor of jokebooks, Frog (David Miller), Eugene’s Public Art manager Kate Ali, photographer Athena Delene and drag queen Karess Ann Slaughter (Cornel Hardiman).

The competition consisted of an introduction of each potential queen, a talent section and finally a Q & A section, with each queen detailing what they would do with their throne. 

The coronation began with the One More Time Marching Band playing tunes such as “Green Onions” and “I’m a Believer” while each competitor did their best to bribe the judges and make an impact on the crowd. 

SLUG Queen Jubilee Hedonisto fought valiantly for her throne, with a talent show performance making reference to the city’s budget and even its rat problem. She would later go on to do well in the Q & A section, saying that if a slug were a Marvel hero, it would use its 1,000 teeth to fight evil. 

Hedonisto was ultimately too hot to handle for the other competitors. Not even Trail La Slime’s energetic yodeling or Slugerella’s poem about Eugene was enough to sway the judges to crown another queen. 

At the end of the night, Jubilee Hedonisto was crowned the 41st SLUG Queen by the judges and former queens, a crowning that she will use to support Burrito Brigade, a nonprofit that feeds those who are unhoused.