PHOTOS BY JENNA FRISBY / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
PAGEANT WINNERS … Pride of Montpelier Pageant’s newest crowned Miss Montpelier Queens. (Back) Teen Miss Montpelier Rosalee Mills, Miss Montpelier Piper JoHantgen. (Front) Junior Miss Montpelier Kaylee Barrett, and Little Miss Montpelier Elsie Thorp. VIEW 260 PHOTOS OF THE PAGEANT FOR FREE AT WWW.THEVILLAGEREPORTER.COM
By: Jenna Frisby
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
jenna@thevillagereporter.com
The Pride of Montpelier Pageant held their “Out Of This World” competition in the Montpelier School Auditoria on Sunday, June 24th at 5:00pm.
The pageant consisted of fourteen contestants competing in their own divisions all with the hopes to be crowned Miss Montpelier 2024.
The pageant began when the curtains were drawn and all the contestants as well as last year’s queens began dancing to an opening number. The judging panel, consisting of twelve past and present pageant queens from around the tri-state area, was then announced.
As they were announced a brief bio about each judge was read so the audience could get to know each of them a little better and understand their love for pageants.
The contestants in the pageant this year were: Miss Contestant #1 Piper JoHantgen, Teen Miss Contestant #2 Sophia Hildebrandt, Teen Miss Contestant #3 Caddisy Chamberlain, Teen Miss Contestant #4 Rosalee Mills, Junior Miss Contestant #1 Maci Taylor, Junior Miss Contestant #2 Kaylee Barrett, Junior Miss Contestant #3 Aria Armstrong, Junior Miss Contestant #4 Braelyn Harter, Little Miss Contestant #1 Emerie Alpaugh, Little Miss Contestant #2 Rhylee Villanueva, Little Miss Contestant #3 Carissa Harter, Little Miss Contestant #4 Elsie Thorp, Little Miss Contestant #5 Meredith Cluckey, and Little Miss Contestant #6 Emalee Gifford.
All the contestants appeared individually in their summer wear. While displaying their summer wear they greeted the crowd, spoke about their interests and hobbies, announced their sponsors, and thanked the crowd for joining for the evening.
Each contestant’s sponsors are as follows: Piper JoHantgen—Kannel Insurance, Sophia Hildebrandt—J.Co. Bridal, Caddisy Chamberlin—Heart at Home, Rosalee Mills—Pioneer Police Department, Maci Taylor—20/20 Custom Molded Plastics, Kaylee Barrett—Delta Juliet Tactical, Aria Armstrong—T.S. DryWall Finishing, Braelyn Harter—Harter Sound, Emerie Alpaugh—NWO Elite, Rhylee Villanueva—Rae’s Sweet Treats, Carissa Harter—Harter Sound, Elsie Thorp—20/20 Custom Molded Plastics, Meredith Cluckey—Montpelier Police Department, and Emalee Gifford—Brown Concrete and Construction.
The program then moved on to the Talent portion of the evening for the Miss contestant. Miss Contestant #1Piper JoHantgen performed a piece on her flute followed by the 2023 reigning Miss Montpelier Kaitlyn Mills singing a song. After the talent pieces were complete the program took a brief intermission so the judges could deliberate.
After the brief intermission, queens within the audience, from around the area, were announced and recognized. Then the final competition of the evening, which all contestants participated in began.
All contestants appeared for a final walk before the judges and crowd in their evening wear. Each girl waving like a queen, while the announcer once again presented who they were along with a short bio about them.
Following their evening wear walks, each contestant then participated in an onstage question which they drew themselves from a bucket.
The program then moved on to showing a brief slideshow with fun facts about each of the contestants while the judges tallied the rest of their votes.
Before the awards portion and 2024 queens being announced for each division, final walks were then made by each of the 2023 pageant queens as they were escorted by their fathers.
After final walks, each contestant received a participation trophy in recognition of their hard work in competing and putting on such a wonderful and successful pageant. Then awards and winners for each division were announced.
Special awards handed out included: Best Interview which consisted of the winner receiving a $25 prize sponsored by Jill E. Clinger Nationwide Insurance, Miss Photogenic which they winner of received an 8×10 photo donated by Mi Sueno Photography by Angi Scott as well as a $25 prize, Miss Congeniality which was an award that was voted on by all the other contestants of which the award was a $50 prize, 1st Runner-Up which the winner of would receive a $25 prize as well as the responsibility of taking the crown in the event that the reigning queen could not finish out her duties, and of course the title itself of Miss Montpelier, in which the winner would receive a scholarship, a shopping spree of various prizes from Wal-Mart and a small prize package.
For the Little Miss Competition, Emalee Gifford was awarded Best Interview, Emery Alpaugh was awarded Miss Photogenic, Carissa Harter was awarded Little Miss Congeniality and 1st Runner-Up. Crowned Little Miss Montpelier 2024 was Elsie Thorp.
For the Junior Miss Competition, Braelyn Harter was awarded Best Interview, Miss Photogenic, Junior Miss Congeniality and 1st Runner-Up. Crowned Junior Miss Montpelier 2024 was Kaylee Barrett.
For the Teen Miss Competition, Rosalee Mills was awarded Best Interview, Miss Photogenic, and Little Miss Congeniality. 1st Runner-Up was awarded to Cassidy Chamberlain. Crowned Teen Miss Montpelier 2024 was Rosalee Mills.
For the Miss Competition, Piper JoHantgen was awarded Best Interview, Miss Photogenic, and Miss Congeniality and then was crowned Miss Montpelier 2024.
All the contestants and newly crowned queens gathered back on the stage for the pageant directors to then present a few special awards. The first award being a plaque which was received by Emalee Gifford in recognition of her selling the most 50/50 tickets for the event and raising the most money.
Next the Montpelier Civic League chose to contestants who displayed being courteous, gracious, friendly and having community be their focus.
Each recipient of this award received $25 as a plaque in recognition. Winners of this award were: Little Miss Contestant #4 Elsie Thorp, Junior Miss Contestant #2 Kaylee Barrett, Teen Miss Contestant #3 Caddisy Chamberlin, and Miss Contestant #1 Piper JoHantgen.
The Volunteerism Award was then presented to several recipients of it. This award was sponsored by Thompson Funeral Home and each participant had the opportunity to apply for this award. Winners of the Volunteerism Award were: Little Miss Contestant #5 Meredith Cluckey, Junior Miss Contestant #2 Kaylee Barrett, Teen Miss Contestant #4 Rosalee Mills, and Miss Contestant #1 Piper JoHantgen.
Next, several contestants would receive a $50 prize sponsored by the Montpelier Rotary Club. Recipients of this award were: Little Miss Contestant #6 Emalee Gifford, Junior Miss Contestant #1 Maci Taylor, and Teen Miss Contestant #2 Sophia Hildebrandt.
Miss Contestant #1 Piper JoHantgen received the next award sponsored by Heather Allman of Raymond James Financial. It was an award of $250 to a contestant that the directors felt had and displayed the most beautiful inside.
It had nothing to do with looks, rather how she is as a person as a whole and how she makes others feel about herself.
The last award of the evening was the Cheryl Harter Memorial People’s Choice Award. This award is given in honor of Cheryl as she passed away in May of 2009. Cheryl was so supportive of the pageant, would drive the titleholders in several parades, and was always there going above and beyond in every situation.
This year, the award raised $660 towards the scholarship fund. The winner of the Cheryl Harter Memorial People’s Choice Award was Caddisy Chamberlain.
Each of the 2024 crowned queens will get the opportunity to represent Montpelier in the Pride of Williams County Pageant in early 2025.
