Staff
FORT FRANCES—For the second year in a row, the Miss Fun in the Sun queen pageant won’t be running due to a lack of contestants.
While nine girls had expressed interest in participating in the pageant, only four had committed themselves by Monday night’s deadline, Jackie Lampi-Hughes of Energy Fitness, who was spearheading the organizing committee, noted Thursday morning.
“I approached the Chamber of Commerce about two weeks before the event was going to start, and I told them I’d like to [do] a fitness competition,” Lampi-Hughes explained about becoming involved in organizing this year’s contest.
“They informed me that there was no one to co-ordinate the whole pageant, so I thought I’d take it on, and when I did, I realized I probably should have started this in March,” she admitted.
So while this year’s queen pageant isn’t a go, planning already is underway to make sure next year’s definitely is, Lampi-Hughes said, pointing to two possible changes to the contest to make it a success.
“Option ‘A’ [is to] make it regional so I can bring in girls from Dryden and Kenora, and then hopefully we can have 20 girls again and make it a bigger pageant like we did back in the day for Miss Fort Frances,” she explained.
“My other option is to make it more like a Miss Canada Day—it would be three days of events rather than over the two-week period.
“And so that’s my goal for next year, I refuse to give up!” Lampi-Hughes vowed.
“The girls should start prepping for next year because we’re going to guarantee to have 20 girls,” she said.
