It was another evening of glitter and glamour as the annual Clay Golden Apple Festival Pageant took place at the Clay High School auditorium on Saturday, August 20. Girls came from throughout the state to compete for the coveted Golden Delicious Miss Teen, Miss Golden Delicious Queen, and Mrs. Golden Delicious titles. It was definitely some stiff competition on the stage.
This year $105,000 in scholarships were given to the winners courtesy of the University of Charleston. Each of the winners were awarded $12,000, runners up $10,000, and third place $8,000. We appreciate the University of Charleston for providing such an outstanding opportunity to the recipients of the awards. Angie King, pageant director, along with her assistant Pamela Ramsey Taylor, put together a great pageant.
Festival director Dawn Whitely was on hand to receive a plaque from previous Queen Brittany Hancock with their photo on it. It will be a new tradition for the Apple Festival, and the plaques will hang in the Court House. All of those competing seemed to have a good time, win or lose.
Serving as the Master of Ceremonies was none other than the 2015 Mrs. West Virginia Beth Sizemore. It couldn’t have been better if Jay Leno or Johnny Carson had done it. Our reigning Golden Delicious Queen, Brittany Hancock, took her final walk on the stage before passing her title on to the new Queen Alejandra Hancock. Brittany will be remembered as one of the many queens that wore the crown of Miss Golden Delicious very graciously and will be missed.
Miss Teen Elizabeth Kingrey took her final stroll before handing her crown over to the new Golden Delicious Miss Teen, Caroline Greenleaf. She will also be remembered among the best. The reigning Mrs. Golden Delicious Festival, Crissa Randolf, relinquished her crown to the new Mrs. Golden Delicious Meg Nicholas. These ladies will no doubt represent Clay County well. In the new Ms Golden Delicious category, Satin Blackwell took the crown. Becky Hancock took home the Classic Golden Delicious Queen title.
Congratulations to the new queens, you certainly have some big shoes to fill, but no doubt you will be ready for what lies ahead and make the county proud to have you represent them. I’m sure that I speak for everyone involved in saying that this pageant would not have been possible without the help of all those who were behind the scenes getting everything ready so it would go off without a hitch. A lot goes into making a successful pageant. To those, a big thanks is appropriate. The new queens cannot wait for the opportunity to have some big time fun at this year’s Apple Festival. Once again, congratulations to the new Clay Golden Delicious Festival royalty.
