Kiffen Fishburne named 2018 Royal Lady of the Autumn Leaves

Kiffen Fishburne and her husband John moved to Leavenworth in 1970, fresh out of college. They had an offer from a friend to come up and manage the Circle C Ranch, which was a Christian youth ranch up Sunitsch Canyon.
They flew up to see what Leavenworth was all about and ended up staying. So far, 48 years and counting.
“When we were out at the ranch, we fell in love with the people. We just fell in love with the place. That was way back when the set-your-own pins bowling alley was in the basement of the Tumwater. There was the old theater before the roof fell in from the snow,” Fishburne said. “The Bavarian theme had been discovered, but it hadn’t caught on. Not all the buildings were Bavarian yet.”
At first, she said they had they eye on a department store downtown.
“We came this close to buying Little’s department store on Front Street right across from the Gazebo, but we didn’t see the vision of what would happen to this town. We didn’t and boy do we kick ourselves now,” Fishburne said.
John and Kiffen have been involved in the community in different areas, not just church. She was vice president of the Leavenworth Women’s Exchange. John had Cascade Paint and Wallpaper at first, then he started teaching.
He would paint in the summer and teach in the winter. They also owned the Country Kitchen restaurant, where locals fondly remember, the Big Dude burger.
“That gave me all my grey hair. We had that for seven years,” Fishburne said.
The Fishburne’s have three children, Johnny, Jody and Josh. The two boys live in Spokane and Oregon, while daughter Jody lives in town.
Whey they came to Leavenworth, Autumn Leaf was really the only big festival. Kiffen participated in Amberleaf Theater, which used to take place on Autumn Leaf Festival weekends.
“That was really fun. Lots of late nights of laughter, trying to put our local talent in a show. Such fun and the people were so warm,” Fishburne recalled.
Their kids were involved in the Autumn Leaf parade at a young age.
“One year, Johnny pulled Jody on his Red Flyer wagon. She was on a little seat with an arch over her head decorated with autumn leaves. She had a banner across her chest that said, Royal Lady 2000,” Fishburne said. “She actually because the Young Woman of the Year and rode on the float. We’ve always been involved with it.”
Another fond Autumn Leaf memory involved goats.
“One year, Josh dressed in lederhosen. We got two miniature goats. They led the goats in the parade. One woman said, ‘my son has lederhosen too. Where can we get a goat?,’” Fishburne said. “The only other goat we could find was a great big one. That big goat was trying to eat the flowers on the float. I had to drag that goat. By the time I got that big goat back to the truck, I was a mess. So many fun memories of Leavenworth and Autumn Leaf.”
Her first thought of the Royal Ladies?
“I thought they were fantastic. It was just ladies that we way up here. I think every little girl dreams about being a princess. I never thought they would pick me. I feel really honored to be part of it,” Fishburne said. “When I look back at our history here, I could see some reasons why they picked us. We’ve had two different businesses in town. We’ve been here for 48 years. We’ve been very involved in the community. Maybe they couldn’t find anyone else.”
Of course, she was very surprised to get the call about being the next Royal Lady. It was an emotional moment for she and John.
 “She said ‘you were at the top of list. We wanted to know if you wanted to be Royal Lady.’ Are you sure? Is this for real? My husband was there, nodding. He reached over to kiss me on the cheek and he had tears in his eyes,” Fishburne said. “It really meant something to both of us. I think he felt really honored as well they would pick me to do that.”
Both John and Kiffen know first hand what’s involved with Autumn Leaf. They’ve been traveling with the parade the past few years, with former Royal Ladies Cindy Hassinger and Carol Forhan. John has driven the float a few times.
Known as a very open, gregarious person, you would think keeping the Royal Lady secret would have been hard, but Kiffen pats herself on the back for this one. She has only told her doctor and sister.
John told the boys, since they are out of town, but not Jody. None are invited to the Royal Lady Banquet to preserve the surprise.
“I want everybody to be surprised. That is part of the fun. I thought if my kids were there, it would give it away,” Fishburne said.
As far as learning all the responsibilities of the Royal Lady and First Gentleman, Fishburne said she’s had a head start having been involved with Autumn Leaf.
“They sent me pages of the responsibilities. I think I’ve been through that several times, so I think I have it down. We’ve been to several of the parades and see what the Royal Lady does. We’ve been right there with her. We’ve been doing this for several years,” she said.
Her companion is 2017 Royal Lady Cindy Hassinger. One of the big consideration for Royal Ladies is always, do they have the time to do it?
“John is retired now. He’s still coaching other schools and things like that. He can do it on his timeline. He’s also president of Rotary now. I’m in several committees with Rotary and right now I’m busy as a hornet with our Rotary Fest that is coming up,” Fishburne said. “We sat down with the calendar and went through the weekends, marked every one on the calendar. We decided it would work, so we’re going to be there and we’re going to enjoy it.”
She is very pleased with her new Royal Lady dresses, made for her by Mary Rose.
“The dress is beautiful. Mary Rose did a beautiful job. She was delightful,” Fishburne said. “She showed me some examples. Cindy and I went through the designs with Mary Rose and picked out what we wanted. We’ve modified it a little bit. Really turned out beautiful.”
There are actually two Royal Lady dresses.
“You have one dress you use to go to the dinners and there’s usually a different dress you wear on the float. The presentation gown is beautiful and not something you want to us to climb up and down the float,” she said. Kiffen knows the month of May is tough, with parades every weekend, but it won’t be as tiring as walking with the float doing the chicken dance for miles. She just has to sit there and wave, she said with a smile.
“I am going to enjoy it. I love people. I really enjoy the people from the other parades. We’ve gotten to know them. There’s changes every year, but also people who are there every year. We’ve become friends,” Fishburne said. “The most fun is representing Leavenworth. We love Leavenworth. We’ve always loved living here. Our kids wanted us to move to Spokane, but we said, we’re not ready for that. We love Leavenworth.”
Ian Dunn can be reached at 548-5286 or editor@leavenworthecho.com.