Miss Fallbrook gives the village a friendly face

This year's Miss Fallbrook has been very busy in the two months since she was crowned on April 9. Brianna Lehman and her court (First Princess Hayley Lawson and Second Princess Yvonne Damian) have attended the Avocado Festival, Spring Egg Hunt at the Fallbrook Community Center, Arts in the Park, the Fallbrook Car Club's Vintage Car Show, the VFW's Memorial Day ceremony and other Local Events, including numerous Fallbrook Chamber of Commerce functions.

That schedule was on top of the final months of her senior year at Fallbrook High School, but she has enjoyed every minute of it.

Lehman was born in Okinawa, Japan but has lived in Fallbrook since she was 6 years old. When she was in middle school watching Miss Fallbrook in the Christmas parade each year, she thought how cool it would be to be Miss Fallbrook.

She recently said, “I used to be really shy,” but three years of cheerleading at the high school have helped her overcome that shyness. (She was also on the competition cheer team this past year, in a "basing" position for the stunt group.)

Lehman wanted to participate in the Miss Fallbrook pageant because of “seeing past Miss Fallbrook's and how they’ve grown” and for the scholarships that are part of the program. Still, “my friends helped talk me into it,” she said.

When asked how the position has met her expectations, she said it has been “greater than what I thought it was going to be. The chamber is amazing; I had no idea what they do or how Fallbrook is run and by whom.”

Of the two to three events she appears at each week, her favorite event so far was the Avocado Festival with Arts in the Park a close second. “Just meeting people is great. As I meet more people, I am growing myself.”

Her favorite part of being Miss Fallbrook is meeting little girls. “They just look up to you so much. I love talking to the kids,” she said.

She likes “hanging out with family” too. She has three older brothers, a fraternal twin sister (Sarah) and three nephews who she loves to spend time with. She plays golf with her parents and “loves to watch football with Dad – the Cleveland Browns.” (Her father is originally from Cleveland.) So, it is no surprise that she wants to become a nurse like her mother.

While both Lehman and her sister are going to Cal State San Marcos, she said only so many students are accepted into the nursing program so she is going to have to keep applying to try and get into it. She hopes to become a labor and delivery nurse.

No matter her major in college, for her freshman year she will follow the advice of 2016 Miss Fallbrook Taryn Sehnert and sign up for morning classes in order to be free for afternoon events that require her attendance.

This current Miss Fallbrook finds meeting new people fun and is very excited for the coming year. Her interactions with the community show that being a team player on the cheerleading squad has been good training for representing the Friendly Village.