By: Korie Marshall
Eight young ladies vying for the Queen title in this year’s revived Valemount Pageant put on an impressive show at the Valemount Community Theatre May 30th, showing off local fashions as well as some of their many talents.
In the first half of the show, the ladies modeled clothing from eight different stores in Valemount, proving there is no dearth of style and function in our community. The show started off with the ladies modeled the latest fashions from A Cut Above, followed by entertaining and creative work and play selections from Alpine Country Rentals and Canoe Mountain Extreme Sports. Selections from Mary’s Kloset and Mountain Bargain Centre showed you can be stylish on a budget, while giving a peak in to the personalities of the contestants, and styles from Rocky Mountain Marketplace and Unique Boutique rivaled anything from the cities. The fashion show finale had contestants in Valemount-branded T-shirts from the Valemount Information Centre throwing beach balls with each other and members of the thrilled audience.
One of the many highlights of the show followed the intermission – a group piece title “Glow Girls.” All eight contestants, with glow sticks attached to their bodies, danced a complex routine – totally in the dark. Sherry Tinsley, Master of Ceremonies and one of the organizers of the pageant offered a special shout-out to Cypris Arnston, who choreographed the dance, from the rest of the contestants.
Shae-Lynn Carlson, Taylor Beallie and Darci Peever each presented a poem they’d written, and each in its own way was a moving story about the joy and pain of living and growing up in our unique community. Arnston, Courtney Byford, Taylor Clark and Denice Kapungu presented more group and individual dances, some with the help of friends, and Alex MacDonald and Kapungu played and sang a heart wrenching and vocally challenging “Break Even.”
Valemount Pageant events are scheduled to continue next weekend, during the 35th annual Valemountain Days. Kudos to pageant organizers Carmen Byford, Serena Dawson and Sherry Tinsley, and especially to the eight young pageant contestants for putting on an amazing show. We hope the secret judges are impressed.
