In its tenth year, the Miss Whitewater Pageant will once again take place during the Whitewater Fourth of July Festival.
The pageant will be held during the evening on Friday, July 1.
Those interested in participating in the pageant are asked to register by 6 p.m. on Wednesday, June 8. A link though which participants may register is here: https://tinyurl.com/missww2022.
Practice sessions for participants are already underway and will continue until the date of the pageant each Wednesday between 6 and 7 p.m. on the Cravath Lakefront Park stage, according to information released by organizers.
The pageant offers five divisions in which contestants may compete. They are: “Mini-Miss,” for entrants under the age of 5; “Little Miss,” for elementary-school-aged entrants; “Junior Miss, for middle-school-aged entrants, “Teen Miss,” comprised of high-school-aged entrants, and “Miss,” for entrants age 20 and older.
Girls looking to enter the pageant are asked to have “ties” to the Whitewater community, but are not required to live in Whitewater, according to the release.
Participants should plan to be available for practice once a week on Wednesday evenings.
Members of the LGBTQ+ community are welcome to compete, the release noted.
Pageant entrants are scored in several categories, including their level of participation in practices and with selling ads for the pageant program, interviews with judges, casual wear, and formal wear, which includes an onstage question. Each category is worth 25% of the entrants overall score.
In each division, a “Queen,” and first and second runner ups are named.
According to the release, the director makes it her practice to have more than four contestants in each division.
“Contestants are still needed in all divisions, “ the release continued.
Traditionally, the release noted, the event is about girls working together to create pageantry for the festival.
The contestants learn to dance as a group and to walk with confidence on stage.
“The girls support each other. You can see it as they help the ‘Littles’ learn to get the ’T-pose’ just right at the first practice, until you see them as they’re getting ready to go on stage, and they’re curling each other’s hair and loaning each other hairspray and makeup,” Pageant Director Elizabeth Bois noted in the release.
According to the release, Bois has worked with the pageant’s entrants for the past 10 years. She will be retiring from the position after this year’s pageant. Longtime pageant participant and multiple division winner Sage Spear will be stepping into the role of director. She will direct her first pageant next year.
After the pageant, the queens from within each division ride in the Fourth of July Parade and visit with guests at the Fourth of July Festival.
This year, a goal is to have the queens perform 22 acts of service in memory of 22 veterans “who commit suicide each day in the U.S.,” the release stated.
Said Bois in the release: “Over the past 10 years, we have made donations totaling over $38,000 to some great veteran causes, such as; USO, Honor Flight Network, Pets for Vets, Vets Roll, Disabled American Vets, and Fischer House. Join us this year as we raise money to support The Highground Camp Victory.
“The goal of Camp Victory is clear: To provide a safe environment for Veterans with PTSD and their families to connect, discuss their experiences, and continue to heal from the effects of serving our country.”
Bois continued: “On average, every 22 seconds a veteran of the United States military commits suicide as a result of undiagnosed and untreated mental health issues. These men and women sacrificed so much for our freedoms, and many are tormented by experiences of war and the challenges of returning home to their families and friends. Our goal is to do everything we can to help those that continue to suffer and end this cycle of veteran suicide. Camp Victory, offers outdoor activities, retreats, and relaxation for Veterans with PTSD. Located on 295 acres of diverse woodlands and fields in west-central Wisconsin, are four miles of wheelchair-accessible and walker-friendly graveled woodland trails. Guests can catch and release bluegill from our one-acre pond with a wheelchair dock. In addition to hosting and providing wheelchair-accessible hunting shacks and guided archery deer, turkey, and bear hunts.”
Those with questions about the pageant, its registration process, or have interest in making a donation to the pageant’s fundraising efforts, can contact the organizers by email: misswhitewaterpageant@yahoo.com.
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