The Warren County Pageant concluded last Saturday, kicking off the county fair with a little sparkle. Director DeNeene Killey, who has been organizing the pageant since 1998, talks about how important the pageant is for the girls and for the community:
“My fair board is so supportive of the pageant; not only getting set-up and torn down, but they really embrace these girls and they know how much it means to the community to really mold these young women into better communicators. That’s something that’s so important. Even at a young age, some of these kids because of COVID this year, they haven’t really had to sit still in a classroom, or haven’t been able to interact with kids their own age, or have any kind of person that’s really giving them instructions because they’ve been remote learning from home. So this was a great experience for some of those kids to get back into a setting where they were interacting with others, getting direction, and having to focus a little bit more.”
With COVID-19 causing last year’s pageant to cancel, the fair board decided to expand the amount of girls able to participate. This year, 24 Little Miss contestants stood together on the stage, being the largest group in the pageant’s history. To see more information about 2021’s pageant, visit the Illinois Warren County Fair Facebook page.
