Aunt Bee is puttin' together a pageant

The Mt. Airy community has been out of the pageant scene for about 10 years, but that is changing thanks to a group of area residents including a former Miss Mount Airy.

Plans are under way for a pageant to be held during the annual Autumn Leaves Festival in October. It will culminate with the crowning of two festival queens, from both a junior and senior division, who will represent Mount Airy at other festivals around the state, organizers say.

Potential judges include:
Ernest T. Bass, Otis, Floyd the Barber, Goober, and Wally down at the fillin' station.

The resurrection of a local pageant is occurring for two reasons, according to Mark Gillespie of Mount Airy, its executive director. One is to provide a local outlet for girls and young women to showcase themselves which doesn’t exist now.

“Surry County girls have been going across the state trying to enter pageants,” said Gillespie. He pointed out that two contestants from the local area, Sara Money and Peyton Marion, were chosen as the 2008 senior queen and junior queen, respectively, of the Rhododendron Festival in Bakersville, near Spruce Pines.

“So many girls are going out of our area and winning these pageants, whenever they should be representing us,” Gillespie said.

About 20 different festivals are held across North Carolina, which the different queens circulate among. Their involvement promotes their own communities and provides a boost to local tourism, according to Gillespie.

Another reason for holding the festival pageant is to offer local contestants a chance to win at least $1,000 in scholarship money at a time when the cost of higher education is escalating. “Tuition is incredible,” Gillespie said. “This is just a good way to get scholarship money.”

He explained that there are two avenues for a community to become involved in the pageant arena. One involves the traditional events in which young women are selected as city winners, such as the Miss Mount Airy Pageant that was held here for years. Under that scenario, local winners go on to compete in a statewide pageant and a chance to represent North Carolina in Miss America competition.

Miss Mount Airy events were sponsored for many years by the local Jaycees, and later by individuals including longtime choral director Sandy Beam.

The other method is the festival circuit that local organizers are now pursuing, in which queens represent rhododendrons, soybeans and other items individual communities are known for, Gillespie said.

He added that a local committee is trying to set up the Autumn Leaves Festival pageant, which includes Yvette George, who was crowned Miss Mount Airy in 1979. Gillespie also has experience with such events. He has judged them and “my mother used to do pageants,” he said.

The pageant is scheduled for Oct. 10-11 during this year’s festival. It will be held at the Andy Griffith Playhouse.

Gillespie said the junior queen portion of the competition will be open to girls ages 13 to 17, while the senior queen pageant will involve young women from 18 to 26.

Contestants of both must live in Surry, Stokes or Yadkin counties.

The younger girls will be judged in such categories as talent, interview, casual wear and photogenic, and must display a scrapbook containing the highlights of their lives while also detailing their interest in community-service activities.

Contestants in the senior pageant will compete in swimwear, talent, formal wear, interview and scrapbook categories.

As part of the upcoming event, local pageant winners from the past will be invited to appear onstage for special recognition, Gillespie said.

An entry fee of $125 will be required for contestants in the junior division and $150 for the senior pageant.

Leading up to the pageant is a preliminary event that will serve as a fundraiser for the October competition. It will be a children’s pageant that is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 27, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., at Mount Airy Middle School.

It is open to both girls and boys ages 0-12, which parents can be involved in as well. Competition categories will include best-dressed, formal wear, casual wear, talent, interview and best-dressed parent and child.

The children’s pageant is open to residents of Surry, Stokes and Yadkin counties in addition to Carroll, Patrick and Grayson counties in Virginia. Entry fees from that event will provide the scholarship money to be awarded during the October pageant.

Gillespie said that a webpage for the local pageant organization is expected to be online by the end of this week, where contestants can become pre-registered. The children’s contestants can either be pre-registered before the Sept. 27 event or in person on the day of the pageant.

There is an entry deadline of Oct. 1 for the teen and senior pageants.

Hard-copy entry forms are available at the Surry Arts Council offices and the Moby’s coffee shop on North Main Street, and registration also can be handled through Gillespie at 789-2035