After Farmington Founders Festival Proposal, Couple Lives Happily Ever After

This year's Downtown Farmington Founders Festival brought back some fond memories for Melissa and Ryan Smith. 

Ten years ago, she was Missy Ellis, a young college student who says she was pretty sure her boyfriend was about to pop the question. 

"I knew he was going to ask," she said. "I didn't know how he was going to ask." 

Ryan picked a unique venue for the proposal: Farmington's annual Founders Festival parade. He rode in a horse-drawn carriage decorated with a huge banner that read, "Missy Ellis, will you marry me?". She and her family had been attending the parade for a long time, so it wasn't difficult to get her to the parade route.

But that year, Melissa said, she saw family members "who wouldn't normally come to the parade". Some even tried to hide. Still, when she saw the sign, her first reaction was shock.

"I think I was nervous, too, because there were so many people around," she said. 

Once Melissa said yes, Ryan helped her into the carriage, and they finished the parade route. He topped off the experience with two dozen roses, one dozen for his new fiancé and one dozen for her mother. 

Because they were so young, 19 and 20, Melissa said the wedding didn't happen for another three years. Both finished college. Ryan now works as an engineer and Melissa was a special education teacher before leaving work to care for their three sons. 

This year, they took their boys to the parade. 

"We wanted to keep the tradition," Melissa said.