POULSBO — Miss Viking Fest 2005 Kayla McAfee encouraged Jasmine Campbell to enter the 2006 Viking Fest pageant, until Campbell finally gave in.

At the April 22 pageant, Campbell was crowned Miss Viking Fest as she, in the words of Poulsbo Mayor Kathryn Quade, “shone above the rest” at the contest.

Then racist e-mails were sent to festival organizers that the Herald brought to light in its May 6 editorial. What followed was a flood of media attention as all the major Seattle media, including television stations and the Seattle Times rushed to Little Norway to get the story.

Now as she prepares for today’s live remote at Poulsbo RV on Viking Avenue, Campbell took a moment to reflect back on what has been a hectic week.

“Sometimes at the end of the day you get home and you’re exhausted, but you’ve still got school work to do,” Campbell said.

Her conversations with McAfee about all of the things that come along with being Miss Viking Fest gave her an idea of what to expect ordinarily but not with the extra attention being thrown her way, Campbell said.

“I never even thought it was an issue,” she said of the racist e-mails that festival organizers received.

Her friends at North Kitsap High School, where she is a senior, had mentioned it, but it was all in a joking manner, she said.

“I never even gave it one single thought and I never asked because I didn’t want to make it an issue,” she said.

Campbell’s foster mother Peggy Stanley, who is white, said she had not experienced a single racist incident in Poulsbo until she was notified of the e-mails.

“The fact that it did come out and the community support we’ve received shows that this is a good community,” Stanley said.

In her preparation leading up to the April 22 pageant, Campbell said she developed a close relationship with Miss Viking Fest 2005 princess Kaylee Ross, who won the speech competition and the Doug McKay scholarship.

As the pageant approached Campbell said she was confident that she had an opportunity to win, but that didn’t keep her from being a little bit nervous when the winners were announced.

“I knew Kaylee had won a lot of awards, but didn’t win and I thought, ‘It’s going to happen again,’” Campbell admitted. “When I won, it was unbelievable.”

Her humorous lutefisk skit during the talent competition, which she won, came together the week of the pageant as she and Stanley worked on it until the wee hours of the night, she said.

“I didn’t have all my lines memorized by the day of the pageant,” she said, adding that she never once felt a sense of nervousness.

After wearing her bunad for the first time Wednesday night, Campbell said she is looking forward to the infamous lutefisk-eating contest.

“I guess I’ll be willing to try lutefisk,” she said, adding that she’s already gone out and bought a lutefisk TV dinner.