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by Abby Bench
Judges, dresses, competitions, and crowns. The pageants for Miss Moroni, Mount Pleasant, Fairview, and the other towns are held almost every year to determine who the new royalty will be. In the past, the towns have held similar types of competitions, but this year that has changed.
Last year, because of covid, the pageants had to be changed to fit the circumstances. Some, like Mount Pleasant, just kept their previous royalty from 2019. Others held different forms of a pageant.
“Last year, we had them write an essay explaining their platform, their achievements, and telling about themselves,” said Moroni City Council member Jenifer Lamb. “Then the city council voted on those without knowing who wrote the essay and picked Miss Moroni and the attendants.”
This year, Moroni is doing something similar to what they did last year with the addition of a panel of judges to ask the interview questions. They’re not holding a full-blown pageant in the hope that it will attract more girls who aren’t interested in doing an actual pageant.
“What our focus actually is would be trying to pick young women who are community-oriented, who have a history of service, and who hold themselves to a high personal standard,” said Lamb. “We’re really focused on leadership and the ability to serve in their community. In order to try and get more participation, we’ve kind of switched up the process a little bit.”
Like Moroni, most of the towns are doing some form of a pageant except for Fairview. They choose not to do anything pageant-related this year because of covid. The girls of Fairview that still want to do a pageant have the option of competing for Miss Sanpete.
“I’m really bummed about it because there aren’t very many options for other pageants,” said Fairview resident Libby Booher. “I really wanted to stay local and have fun with people I’ve grown up with.”
While Fairview isn’t even holding a pageant, Mount Pleasant is doing what they usually do each year. They are holding actual pageants with categories to compete in and a panel of judges to determine the winners.
“There is a production number, then fitness, talents, and evening wear,” said committee member Ashley Mason. “We’ll crown a queen and then three attendants. They’ll get a cash scholarship. They will be responsible for different things throughout the city.”
The pageant for Miss Mount Pleasant recently took place. Hope Shelley was crowned queen with Marlee Crozier as first attendant, Journey Toomey as second, and Ava Jensen as third.
The girls who competed all really enjoyed being able to participate like normal this year. They learned a lot about themselves and each other and each did a great job. The atmosphere there was friendly and fun.
“One night we were practicing the production number and the girls were just so funny,” Mason said. “We were down in the stands and the director went up on stage and looked behind the curtain. The girls were just dancing and being crazy and silly. Moments like that are really fun. There are a lot of stressful times but they do still have fun.”
