Texas Citrus Fiesta announces the 89th Royal Court

A new cohort of young women will represent the Texas Citrus Fiesta as members of the 89th Royal Court.

The City of Mission celebrated the annual Citrus Fiesta, where area residents honor the local citrus industry. During the gala, TCF named Ximena Lopez Queen Citrianna, Sofia Garza the Princess of Grapefruit Blossom and Aaliyah Sarabia the Princess of Orange Blossom. Ella Hartzog joined the court as the Lady-in-Waiting, and Megan Martinez was named the alternate, a reliever if one of the other members cannot fulfill their duties.

Though the girls hail from different parts of Hidalgo County, they all came together to pay tribute to RGV agriculture.

Hartzog, the 15-year-old from McAllen, represented the City of McCook as the Duchess of Grain Sorghum — the same way her mother did in 1996. Hartzog is also a former Princess Anna from 2015. She said this year was an exciting experience, and she is proud to continue her family legacy in the fiesta.

“I had a really fun time participating in all the activities, the product costume show, the ball, the coronation, the parade. It’s just been a really fun experience,” the sophomore said. “Even if I didn’t win, I had a really fun time with all the duchesses, who I wouldn’t have met in my normal day-to-day life.”

Lopez, who will begin her reign as Queen Citrianna in 2026, is also part of the TCF legacy. The 17-year-old represented Peñitas as the Duchess of White Wing, but she is not the first in her family to do so. Her tia was also Duchess of White Wing, and her grandma and great aunt were Duchess of Retama for La Joya. She honored the four generations with four white doves on her dress.

“History and tradition are very important to me and I love the Texas Citrus Fiesta…because it doesn’t only touch the lives of elders present but also the younger generation who get to participate,” Lopez said. “And even if they don’t participate, they might go and see the pageant every year like me and get inspired to be part of the tradition and the history.”

Also representing western Hidalgo County is 17-year-old Sarabia from Palmview, the Duchess of Royal Palms. She said she has grown up giving back to her community through food insecurity programs and the communication workshops she hosts. But she looks forward to expanding her service to other communities now that she earned the title of Princess of Orange Blossom.

“I’m most excited for the partnership aspect that TCF can bring us because this platform would allow me to communicate with more students and help me prepare them for their future with my workshops. And also to be able to give back to my community in a different way than I have before,” Sarabia said. “I want to take it a step further and be able to give back to my community in different ways and to different organizations that I haven’t been able to.”

Garza, the Princess of Grapefruit Blossom, was also excited to expand her horizons with the Texas Citrus Fiesta. The 17-year-old from Edinburg represented the FFA organization as the Duchess of Sunflower. With a keen interest in a veterinary medicine career, Garza said she was excited to learn about a different aspect of the field of agriculture.

“I went into it with an open mind because I’ve never done anything like this before. Even if I didn’t get a position on the royal court, I just wanted to use it as a learning experience,” she said. “I grew up showing cattle so it was something very different for me. But it is similar in some ways because [the citrus industry] all involves agriculture, and I was really excited to learn more about it and just further my knowledge.”

Martinez, the alternate who represented Hidalgo County 4-H as TCF’s first Duchess of Clover, also has a background in agriculture. The 15-year-old competed in her first pageant when she was about 5 years old, but she jokes that she came out of retirement to help share what makes citrus so special to the area.

“The Texas citrus industry is so important to the Rio Grande Valley, whether it’s providing farm fresh food for the people in our communities or even just providing jobs for the people here,” Martinez said. “I’m sure you’ve noticed driving around that there’s been a lot more development with houses and there’s a lot of groves that are being demolished to expand commercial properties. And so I definitely wanted to come out of retirement to really make sure to spread that message of why the Texas citrus industry is really so important for our community because it just provides so much for us.”

These young ladies will return to the stage and begin their reign at next year’s scheduled events.