Published: June 10, 2009 07:42 am      

Northwest Pageant features 21 contestants

Twenty-one contestants 3 to 17 years old from Woodward and the surrounding area will compete in interviewing, talent and evening wear at the Miss Northwest Pageant Saturday.

The pageant will be held at 7 p.m. at the Woodward Arts Theater.

“This is going to be our 10th year (of conducting the pageant),” Carolyn Ames, one of the volunteer board members putting on the beauty pageant, said Tuesday.

Ames said 13 members make up the volunteer board and that the board had selected three judges who will decide on the winners.

Ames said the judges would look for age appropriate personality, talent and poise.

During the pageant, the participants will perform their talent first, then evening wear.

Interviewing of the contestants will take place with the judges in the afternoon before the pageant, Ames said.

The judges will interview each girl individually, except for the three year old to five year old group, she said.

“In judging the evening wear, the judges will look for what’s appropriate for a three to five year old to wear and what’s appropriate for a 15 to 17 year old,” Ames said.

Five different age groups will compete for a title. Most of the contestants take dance lessons and singing lessons and start preparing several months ahead of the event, she said.

Talent will consist of dance, baton twirling and vocals.

The pageant usually concludes around 9 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., Ames said.

Each category will have a winner and first runner up, a talent winner and a photogenic winner, she said.

“We also give an award to an overall ticket sales contestant and a crowd pleaser award,” she said.

The winners will receive flowers, crowns, a trophy and savings bonds and gifts from area banks and merchants, she said and everyone who participates will receive a trophy. The dollar amounts of the savings bonds will vary.

During the pageant while the contestants are changing clothes, entertainment will be provided.

“There will be dances, two vocalists and a piano performance,” she said.

“Entertainment will be provided by Miss Northwest Passage Ashley Baumgartner and Miss Northwest Passage Outstanding Teen Heather Rasmussen,” Ames said. “Other entertainment will be provided by Nicole Jia Miss Oklahoma Star, Jennica Kenny, Daren Miller and local dance studios.”

All of the proceeds from ticket sales for the event will go to the Miss Northwest Passage Pageant, Ames said. That event is a scholarship pageant.

Ames said the event to be held Saturday “is usually pretty well attended, unless something else is going on that evening.”

After the winners have been selected, they will be required to participate for a year in community activities, parades and the Miss Northwest Passage Pageant set for Oct. 10, Ames said.

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The contestants, and their hometown are:

•Three years old to five years old: Chloe Suter, Woodward; Caitlin Laverty, Shattuck.

•Six years old to eight years old: Alexandria Shook, Lahoma; Hannah Healey, Woodward; Kyrstan Cook, Woodward; Rhylie Phillips, Woodward; and Jenna Steadman, Sharon.

•Nine years old to 11 years old: Devre Elle Newby, Woodward; Kaley Patterson, Woodward; Hannah Hopkins, Mooreland; Ashton Arnold, Woodward; Maison Moseley, Woodward; and Nyomi Barrick-Wommack, Woodward.

•12 years old to 14 years old: Jaci Hodges, Woodward; Hannah Ruble, Woodward; Sage Sunderland, Enid; and Shelbi Smithton, Woodward.

•15 years old to 17 years old: Preslee Ward, Woodward; Jada Hodges, Woodward; Rachel Ruble, Woodward; and Taylor Alexys Razien, Woodward.