Six vie for Miss Y title
In a culture that can’t seem to get enough of beauty pageants, there is one competition that has managed to rise head and shoulders above the rest. So move over Queen of the Bay, chill Miss Belize, because this weekend…Miss Y di run tings!
Catalina Casimiro, 66 years old
“I am from Punta Gorda and I learned how to dance in Punta Gorda. I was a queen of the Helpage in Punta Gorda so those sisters here call for me to go, to come and participate with them.”
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
Sixty-six year old Catalina Casimiro is one of six ladies who will be competing in this year’s Miss Y Pageant. The contestants, between the ages of sixty-five and seventy-five years old, say their participation is more about having fun than competing on Friday night.
Beryl Carter, 68 years old
“Well because of our age and we are showing with all our age we can still do something you know that we are not being thrown on one side. Is that why you decided to enter the pageant? Yes I want to feel young again, you know that I can still kick up dust.”
The contestants will not only showcase their talent but also some very important messages. Seventy-five year old Euphemia Bennett is the mother of four daughters. She believes that parents today need to be more affectionate towards their children.
Euphemia Bennett, 75 years old
“Because the parents are very cruel of today, you walk the street and when you look they drag the pickney, they hit them in the head and you just say hey, man and they just look you side way. You know what that means. So now you are sending a message tot hem that if you train our children from birth, the child will come right because you will talk to the child and say you no suppose to do that, you were suppose to do this see and the child will understand.”
Sixty-five year old Radiance Morter says she was impressed with the 2002 pageant and decided that this time around instead of being a member of the audience, she would be a contestant. Morter says it is her love for life that keeps her looking and feeling younger than her age.
Radiance Morter, 65 years old
“I am the type of the person that enjoys life. Just to be alive, just to be able to smell the coffee, so to speak and my four beautiful daughters and nine wonderful grandchildren of which I am proud.”
Jacqueline Woods
“Lillian why you decided to enter the Miss Y?
Lillian Sutherland, 69 years old
“Because they invite me and advise me and ask me to come and take part in it and I accepted because I believe it is something really good to help the community.”
Amelia Morris, 63 Year sold
“Everybody calls me mommy, mommy go because you know you can make it. I said, I no mind if I make it. All I want to do, is to have fun. That’s all. So it’s all about having fun? It’s all about having fun.”
A sentiment also shared by the reigning Miss Y, Sixty-one year old Shirley Ferguson. Ferguson says since her win, she has been busy touring the country.
Shirley Ferguson, Reigning Miss Y
“I went to P.G, I went to Corozal, I did judging, I did a whole lot of stuff. What advice you have for the six ladies who will be taking part in this year’s pageant? Well I would tell them to really do their best to attract the judges.”
Last year the YWCA raised ten thousand dollars through the pageant. This time around they are hoping to meet their target of fifteen thousand. Jacqueline Woods for News Five.
The Miss Y pageant gets underway at seven-thirty Friday night at the Belize City Centre. Tickets can be bought for twenty dollars reserved, ten general and five for children at the YWCA or at the door on the night of the pageant.
