Miss Y contestants get set for pageant
Who says you have to wait until Sunday to start celebrating Mother’s Day? The Miss Y Pageant on Friday night will give you a chance to spend some time with your own mom and enjoy the talents of some of Belize’s most fascinating women. Now in its seventh year, Miss Y is unique among the many pageants held in Belize. The focus is not on the fleeting beauty of young women, but on those who, as they say, have “aged to perfection”.
There are six women, dubbed “senagers” vying for the title of Miss Y 1999. The women, who range in age from sixty nine to eighty years young, have been rehearsing their lines and dance steps for a pageant that the Young Women’s Christian Association says just keeps on getting better.
Leotin Lewis, Coordinator, Miss Y Pageant
“They are all varied and of varying talent and stature and personality, so that will be one of the new things. One of the contestants tried her hand at writing a poem and I think that is very good. The others try to be a little physical. One of the contestants would like to show off what all she can do. Of course she wanted to do two talents but we told her to do one. So she is going to sing.”
The contestants say they see the pageant as more than just a competition.
Paulita Reyes, 74 Years Young
“Well because the funds that they are making are going for the children to give them their education is the reason why I love to do it.”
Ruth Gray, 69 Years Young
“I like the experience and I like the exercises, you know. I like the dancing, to happy myself because I do not like to be sad.”
Q: “You always have a smile on your face?”
Ruth Gray
“Yes, I am always smiling and I am always taking care of old ladies so I have to be smiling with them.”
Some of the contestants, although they have not regretted entering the annual pageant, admit that at first they had to be pushed a little to enter their names.
Cordelia Hunter, 76 Years Young
“Really, I wasn’t going to but it was two other older friends like myself, they say, Ms. Curl, you move sprity and things like that. And then my little granddaughter, that works at the library, she is the librarian, she gave my name and age and everything, so that is the reason I said I will do it; not to let her down. I really like to be in company and do these things.”
Norma Morter, 68 Years Young
“When I told them, they said mommy go for it because all you do is just sit down in this house and work and work and stress out yourself and you know we are going to love to see you in there.”
The pageant also has contestants like seventy-five year old Christine Brown who will be back on stage after more than twenty years.
Christine Brown, 75 Years Young
“Now that I am old, I don’t do it anymore.”
Q: “So will you be nervous when you have to do the “electric avenue” on stage?”
Christine Brown
“No, I won’t be.”
Eighty year old Lillian Pandy is the most senior contestant and is proving that you are only as old as how you feel.
Q: “Lillian you are probably one of the most vibrant and energetic contestants I have seen for a while in the Miss Y Pageant. Nobody that looks at you would know that you are eighty years old. How have you managed to keep this youthfulness about you?”
Lillian Pandy, 80 Years Young
“First of all, I try to eat the proper food and get sufficient rest for my body.”
Q: “Do you also exercise?”
Lillian Pandy
“I don’t exercise much. All the exercise I get is walking, you know, to go out, go shopping and go home.”
The pageant, which raised fourteen thousand dollars in 1998, is held to support one the YWCA’s most vital programs.
Leotin Lewis
“This pageant goes towards totally running the Y in the program especially for helping young girls who, I would not say are dropouts but were unable to meet the needs for the B.N.S.E.: the school leaving program. Here they are taught the basics of economics and cake making, bed making and so on. We prepare them for any job that they may want to pursue.”
As the contestants get ready for the pageant, Antolina Davis, Miss Y 1993 advises the women to do well and have fun.
Antolina Davis, Miss Y 1993
“As they look forward to the pageant, I tell them relax, do their best and see that they give a good entertainment.”
If you would like tickets for the Miss Y Pageant they are on sale at the YWCA and Bliss Institute for fifteen dollars reserve, ten dollars general admission and five dollars for children.
A number of titles in the pageant have already been awarded. Lillian Pandy has been chosen as Miss Vivacious, Paulita Reyes is Miss Personality, Norma Mortar who has twenty children, has been dubbed Miss Perseverance and Most Gracious is Christine Brown. The Miss Y Pageant takes place this Friday night at 7:30 at the City Center. Last year’s Miss Y Viola Miles will be on hand to watch the selection of the new queen.
