Queen of the Bay Pageant this weekend

On Friday, the September Celebrations kick off with the fifty-third annual Queen of the Bay Pageant. This year there are eight young ladies who will be competing for the title and all the attractive prizes that include a U.C.B. scholarship, a thousand dollars in cash, a plane ticket courtesy Continental Airlines, a B.T.L. pager and jewelry. The contestants, who are staying at the Biltmore Plaza Hotel, come from Belize City, Ladyville, Sand Hill, Orange Walk, Stann Creek, Corozal and Cayo districts. According to Emma Boiton, pageant coordinator, the young ladies will not only be judged on poise and beauty but will need to have a good knowledge of Belize.

Emma Boiton, Coordinator, Queen of the Bay Pageant

“The committee has said that the girls will be judged on how they feel about Belize. It was the Minister with responsibility for September Celebrations who said as we go into the new millenium, she wanted us to focus on our culture and traditions. We took it a little bit further and we said we want the girls to focus on Belize. What is the girls’ commitment to Belize? How do they feel about certain things? The questions, the chit chat about Belize.”

The Queen of the Bay contestants are Ampara Pinnock representing the Albert Division, Alberta Acosta representing the Port Loyola Division, Ormencia Pow from Sand Hill, Shana Fitzgibbons from Ladyville, Samantha Carlos from Orange Walk, Patricia Vasquez from Stann Creek, Crystal Vasquez from Corozal and Bertha Waight from Cayo. The reigning Queen of the Bay is Shari Williams of Toledo. The pageant gets underway Friday night at seven at the Belize City Centre. Tickets are available at the post office: fifteen dollars extra reserve, ten dollars reserve and five dollars for bleachers.