Pair Named King, Queen Of Mount Tabor On Children's Day

MOUNT TABOR, NJ — Mount Tabor recently celebrated Children's Day — a tradition for the historic neighborhood that goes back to the 1870s. The festivities include a coronation of the "king" and "queen" of Mount Tabor — this year, the crowns went to Braylon Moore and Maya Lau.

Here's more about the recent Children's Day celebrations, from the Mt. Tabor ARTS Collaborative:

Mt. Tabor Children’s Day

Braylon Moore was named King and Maya Lau was named Queen during Mt. Tabor’s Children’s Day Celebration held August 5 through August 7. Also, Keegan Tracy was named Second Attendant and Charlie Davis was named the First Attendant.

What has come to be known as Children's Day started in the 1870s as a Sunday School parade around Trinity Place, the original location of the camp meeting religious services. Following the parade, the children were treated to ice cream, compliments of Day's ice cream tent. The Children's Day custom is known as "Walking Day" in England, where churches organize parades, provide refreshments to participants and generally have a holiday. Children's Day has evolved into a unique community festival in Mount Tabor and is still a focal point of summer on "The Hill."

As all things evolve, Children’s Day now includes the Coronation of the King and Queen followed by a show put on by the community for their new reigning royalty. This year's theme was Broadway! And the royal family were treated to dances from Newsies to Hamilton. The younger children on Friday evening walked “the hill” and experienced brightly colored lanterns and Decor evoking the Broadway Theme including not 1 but 2 Audrey 2s from Little Shop of Horrors. While the younger children went house to house gathering candy, the Royal Court threw an amazing royal event: Game On! which included a gaming truck. Saturday morning starts early with athletic events, parades and the famous Midway full of games! Later that evening, Graham Nash sang to the masses of adoring fans while fireworks filled the evening air. Sunday, a multi-denominational worship service was offered by Pastor Rosario of the United Methodist Church of Mt. Tabor. Children’s Day now should be called Children’s weekend. So much laughter and music filled “the hill” over the weekend. However, the Sunday of Children’s Day is always very quiet. The children must be sleeping in dreaming of next year’s celebration.

Maya Lau

Maya Lau is the youngest daughter of Jim and Dawn Lau. She is currently a sophomore at Parsippany Hills High School. She loves soccer, singing, performing, art, cosplay, gaming and fashion.

Maya plays soccer for Parsippany Hills High School. When not playing soccer, Maya loves to perform with Mt Tabor ARTs Collaborative as well as Parsippany Hills Players. She was recently seen in MTAC’s highly acclaimed Addams Family as Clara Bow. Maya loves video games and is happiest when at special events such as Comic-Con and Anime-NYC. Maya’s dream is to go to University and pursue a career in fashion design after graduation. She is honored to be the 153rd Queen of Mt. Tabor taking over for her sister, Rhaya Lau, who was Queen last year. When asked what her favorite thing about living on “the hill” is, she said her peaceful walks through town and all the unique activities in her community.

Braylon Moore

Braylon Moore, son of Devon and Allison Moore, is a varsity athlete at Parsippany Hills High School. He plays football, basketball and track and field for the Hills. In his spare time, he loves hanging out with family and friends, learning about technology and playing golf. After graduation, Braylon is planning on continuing to be a scholar-athlete in college playing basketball and pursuing a business degree.