{"id":1311571,"date":"2019-06-18T22:36:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-19T04:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/swimsuit-contest-out-leadership-training-in\/"},"modified":"2019-06-18T22:36:00","modified_gmt":"2019-06-19T04:36:00","slug":"swimsuit-contest-out-leadership-training-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/swimsuit-contest-out-leadership-training-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Swimsuit contest out, leadership training in"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Miss Strawberry Days contestants present during the group judging portion during Tuesday’s all day judging. The girls spoke about the importance of including the ATHENA International Leadership program in this year’s competition.<\/strong>
Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\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

tphippen@postindependent.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Miss Strawberry Days contestants present during the group judging portion during Tuesday’s all day judging. The girls spoke about the importance of including the ATHENA International Leadership program in this year’s competition.Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent Once little more than a beauty pageant, the Miss Strawberry Days contest is doing away with swimsuits and is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1311571","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-19 08:25:37","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1311571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311571\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1311571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1311571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1311571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}