Once little more than a beauty pageant, the Miss Strawberry Days contest is doing away with swimsuits and judging contestants on personality and leadership qualities.<\/p>\n
Once little more than a beauty pageant, the Miss Strawberry Days contest is doing away with swimsuits and is judging contestants on personality and leadership qualities.<\/p>\n
Strawberry Days is almost as old as Glenwood Springs itself, and though there will be a fashion show at the Hot Springs Resort Thursday evening, swimsuits will no longer be part of the contest to crown the queen of the festival.<\/p>\n
The change came in part from the feedback of last year\u2019s contestants.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s what we talked about in interviews last year. The community just sees this as a pageant, and they don\u2019t see all the other hard work that\u2019s done,\u201d said Courtney Wheeler, a third-time contest judge.<\/p>\n
The 14 girls who are gunning for the crown this year seemed to appreciate the shift of emphasis.<\/p>\n
The contestants spent most of the day Tuesday at Morgridge Commons, where each had an individual interview with the panel of six judges, worked on parade signs and thank-you notes.<\/p>\n
In small groups, the girls also presented to the judges the positive impact of eliminating the swimsuit show.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it attracts a more diverse group of people, instead of having just a swimsuit fashion show,\u201d said Elle Yellico, 18, who also competed last year.<\/p>\n
The contest is open to girls 16\u201320, and offers the first-place winner a $3,000 scholarship. This year, Miss Strawberry Days partnered with ATHENA Leadership Program to emphasize a different set of skills.<\/p>\n
\u201cRecognizing that there are more important things than looks and strutting makes it more open,\u201d said contestant Victoria Madden, 18.<\/p>\n
Several girls noted that they likely wouldn\u2019t have participated if the swimsuit show were still a part of the competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo anybody who calls it a beauty pageant or a popularity contest, it isn\u2019t that,\u201d Joni Bates of the Glenwood Chamber Resort Association said of the contest.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019re really changing the face of the program into a scholarship and leadership program, and getting away from the beauty pageant part,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Danny Starbuck, 18, has been in the background of Miss Strawberry Days for years, watching sisters compete and walking in the parade.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always been something I looked up to. A lot of power women and leaders in the community have gone through,\u201d Starbuck said. \u201cI think that I can represent this community well, and it\u2019s a great opportunity,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not strange for daughters and sisters of Miss Strawberry Days pageant winners to compete, Bates said.<\/p>\n
Logan Nieslanik, 17, was inspired to do the contest by her aunt, Tonya Nieslanik, who was Miss Strawberry Days in 1989.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that Miss Strawberry Days is really about empowering women, and about showing the community that women can be strong, powerful and smart, and also do a lot of good for the community,\u201d Logan said.<\/p>\n