“When you go down rest your leg on the other so as you do go down your back is perfectly straight,” Mrs Skinner instructed.

It was a deep, straight-backed curtsey borne from years of deportment classes.

Mrs Skinner is the reigning Albury Floral Festival queen, and though it was a title she obtained in her 20s, it’s a title she’ll have forever given the year she was crowned, 1972, was the final year of the festival.

The week-long Floral Festival was the social event on the Border calendar from when it began in 1951 to 1972.

All it celebrated — from floral displays to floats, balls and dances and yes, the crowning of its queen — is being commemorated in a new exhibition opening tomorrow at 2pm at the Library Museum.

Mrs Skinner’s pink lace ball gown is displayed in a glass case next to the mint green dress of the 1967 queen candidate Coralie Williams.

A photo of 20-something Mrs Skinner is beside it.

Carriages used in the parade, sparkling diamond crowns and a gallery of photos are all part of the exhibition.

Mrs Skinner and Mrs Williams, who both still live in Albury, got an early glimpse of the display yesterday.

“It makes you feel like a relic,” Mrs Williams, who was 19 when she was a candidate, said with a laugh.

Mrs Skinner said she could feel the memories coming back of a special time in her life.

“It was exciting and humbling,” she said.

She said it brought opportunities for her, including judging modelling competitions and attending social events.

It also propelled her speech and drama studio she operated from Melbourne, a studio she still runs in Albury.

The exhibition will run for six weeks.