ALBANY – Sam Mills, a 24-year-old resident of Albany, was named Tulip Queen on Saturday, May 7, representing the first non-binary person to be crowned as such in the city’s 74-year history of the festival.
Mills, a Saint Rose graduate, is a stand-up comic who has worked with local businesses to organize free open mic nights and comedy shows. They lived in Albany for the past seven years and has become part of the social fabric in Center Square as a bartender at Palais Royale. In their free time they enjoy painting, reading books on history and philosophy and karaoke.
As Tulip Queen, Mills hopes to inspire the youth to fearlessly express themselves through the freedom of expression while teaching the importance of literacy and the power of education.