Catherine Ross arrives in a room like a confetti cannon disguised as a person: bright, a little sparkly and impossible to ignore once she’s gone off.

This year’s Washington State Apple Blossom Festival Royalty Selection Pageant emcee did not take a straight path to the microphone. Her story zigzags from Tacoma childhood stages to New York boardrooms, from operating roller coasters at Disney World to yoga training in Thailand, before circling back to Wenatchee: the place she now calls, simply and with relief, home.