Charlotte Ley is the 2019 Royal Lady of the Autumn Leaves

Charlotte Ley - along with her husband, Tom, and two daughters in tow - put roots down in Leavenworth in 2000. She hasn't budged since falling for Leavenworth 19 years ago. 

Formerly living in Kirkland with two daughters to raise, her youngest teetering on the edge of starting kindergarten, Ley decided to find a better fit to raise her children. She found the perfect landing spot for her family with the help of her friend Robin - Leavenworth, Washington. Thus began her love affair with the Bavarian Village. 

"My best friend came over to Leavenworth, found this cute little town and said we have to move here," said Ley. "I put a bid on the house before my husband even saw it." 

In 2003, she scanned the Leavenworth Echo for opportunities to engage with her new neighbors and immerse herself in her new community - Ley found her niche in the form of the Autumn Leaf Festival. 

Diving right in, Ley rotated through several positions from secretary, vice president and even a stint as the president for three years. In her three years as president, she had the responsibility of hosting the members of Northwest Festival Hosting Group when they came to Leavenworth. 

Northwest Festival Hosting includes festivals from different cities from Portland, Oregon to British Columbia, and its festival hosting groups who network in order to help each other. Every year Northwest Hosting gets together in one of the cities to toss ideas and solve problems.

"(One of my favorite Autumn Leaf Festival memories is) when we put on Northwest Hosting, there was a team building exercise and different groups put together bicycles with no instructions," explained Ley. 

The groups ended up donating all the bicycles with a helmet and backpack to children in the community who needed a bike. 

"When we were all done putting this together, it was so awesome. They brought these little kids out and got on their bicycles," said Ley. "We got to talk to t he kids and the parents just had tears in their eyes they were just so grateful we did that for them."

Ley has many memories with the Autumn Leaf Festival after many years extending a helping hand. Ley's long time involvement with the Autumn Leaf Festival organization stems from her passion for Leavenworth.

"I am passionate about Leavenworth because we're so unique and I love sharing it with anybody that will listen," said Ley. "So it is really fun when you go to these other festivals and you're in your dirndl and people will stop, because everyone wants a picture with you. Everyone wants to talk to you about Leavenworth. And everybody has a story about Leavenworth." 

While the dirndl is fun attire and her fellow Autumn Leaf Festival enthusiasts are good company, she emphasized that her absolute favorite aspect of Autumn Leaf Festival is promoting the city of Leavenworth. 

Her Autumn Leaf Festival resume is already loaded, but now Ley can add Royal Lady to that impressive list. 

"I really, really was in shock for several days, my head was just spinning," said Ley. "I think I'd really regret it if I didn't say yes, because Autumn Leaf is my passion. It's the only festival that goes all over, promoting Leavenworth." 

After accepting, Ley immediately chose Elisabeth Saunders, former Royal Lady as her companion. Saunders was a Royal Lady during Ley's time serving as the president for Autumn Leaf, so it happened to be full circle for the duo. 

"As Royal Lady I'm most looking forward to traveling and promoting Leavenworth," said Ley. "