Hear ye, hear ye! Queen of Conch wins shell-blowing contest — and a marriage proposal

Mary Lou Smith is tooting her own horn, and deservedly so.

On Saturday, the Florida retiree took top honours at Key West's 56th annual Conch Shell Blowing Competition. On top of that, moments after she clinched the title, Smith's boyfriend proposed.

As It Happens host Carol Off called up the newly-crowned — soon to be newly-wed — "Queen of Conch" to find out more about the memorable day.

Mary Lou, congratulations on your win.

Thank you so much.

Now, we can't go further until we solve a problem. How do you say it? We say "cawnch," or I say, "cawnch."

No, no, no. No, no, no, no, no (laughs). It's "conk." "Conk."

Does everyone say "conk" there? No one says "cawnch?"

Well, a lot of people that don't know, say "cawnch." However, the Florida Keys is known as the Conch Republic.

And is that because it rhymes with honk?

No, (laughs) because they're noted for conch shells.

OK, we'll call it a conk then. So let's get to the contest. What is it that you did that got you first place?

They judge you on the length of your sound, the loudness and also, the novelty. Some people can actually play a tune. I blew four different shells to show the different sounds and I blew for length and also for loudness.

Did you blow any tunes?

No, (laughs) I don't do tunes.

And how do you do it? It's not just any shell. You don't just pick up a conch off the beach and start honking.

Exactly, exactly. So, on the shells, you know how they get the conch meat out of the shell? They usually bang it and put a hole in it and that releases the snail. So you cannot have a shell that's got that hole in it. And then, someone has to cut the end off, just right, and that serves then as the mouthpiece for making the sound. It's a vibration, just like a horn.

And did you do that yourself or did someone make those shell conchs for you?

An old scuba diver I met in the village of St. Andrews, Panama City knew just where to cut them off. I bought my shell from him and he subsequently taught me how to blow and that you blow to give glory to the creator four times for good luck and good health as the sun is setting. 

And do you do that every night?

Almost every night, almost every night.

Now, something else happened at this event, besides you winning first place. Do you want to tell us about that?

Woooo! Oh my gosh, I can just feel it happening again. So, my boyfriend of just two and a half years, I've been training him to sound the conch shell. He also competed in the men's division. Of course, I was near the stage taking pictures of him and I walked back to my seat. They called me back up there. We were suppose to do some kind of conch duet?

I'm looking questioningly at Rick saying, "What's happening? I don't know anything about this." And he gets down on his knee. He's got the conch shell in one hand and he's got his old Seabee ring, because he wants me to pick out my own ring, and he proposed to me!

And, your answer?

I was just so floored. (Laughs) I didn't know what to do so I just blew the conch shell — that was my "Yes." Then he got up and we both blew our shells together. It was great! I hope we'll be conch-honking for many years to come!

This interview transcript has been edited for length and clarity. For more on this story, listen to our full interview with Mary Lou Smith.