ONLY ON 3: Queen Azalea talks Wilmington, UNCW and WWAY

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — This year’s Queen Azalea Anna Kooiman has roots here in the Port City.

“It was surreal yesterday when they were doing the coronation ceremony,” said Kooiman. “Then seeing the WWAY crew and the tent with the logo on it, it was warming my heart. My heart is so full this week.”

An alumna of both UNCW and WWAY, Kooiman said she is overjoyed to be back in Wilmington for the festival.

“It’s just a walk down memory lane because I was a reporter just like you. I was literally going ok well that’s where the police station used to be and on Saturdays and Sundays I used to have to go and see what the police reports were from the night before,” Kooiman said.

Today she laced up her running shoes to train with the track team from her alma mater.

“My former track coach at UNCW reached out to me and said ‘We gotta do a run!’ and we were hitting each other up on Twitter and stuff and I’m like ‘Absolutely!’ I’m addicted to running anyway still,” Kooiman said.

Head coach Layne Schwier said the team was excited to have Anna run with them.

“It’s not every day you get to meet someone that’s on tv all the time and someone that’s got 70 thousand plus Twitter followers. Some of them are pretty excited about that, the possibility of getting tweeted out about. That’s what’s pretty exciting to a lot of them I think,” said Schwier.

Kooiman said her whole family is in town and they are ready for a weekend full of festivities.

“I love to sing. I love to dance. I love to meet people. And it seems like that’s what the Azalea Festival is all about. Of course you get to dress up in pretty gowns and I already picked mine out for the parade by the way on Saturday so I’m really excited about that. I’ve never worn a crown before so it feels a little funny but I’m trying!” Kooiman said.