Parents interested in entering their daughters in the Blueberry Jubilee pageant have until Saturday to save on the entry fee.
Applications turned in by May 13 will require a $50 entry fee, any application turned in after that date will require an entry fee of $65. Applications will be accepted until the day of the pageant, set for May 27 at Poplarville Lower Elementary, said pageant organizer Brittany Krutzfeldt.
Applications can be downloaded from Blueberryjubilee.org/pageant/. The website also provides a full list of rules and other pageant information.
The pageant is open to all young girls from birth to 18-years-old in the Blueberry categories. The contest will also choose this year’s Pearl River County’s Miss Hospitality for contestants 19- to 24-years-old.
Teenage and older contestants will undergo an interview process. The interview process starts at 10:45 a.m. and will test each contestant’s knowledge of blueberries, include a short biography on the contestant and evaluate their communication and hospitality skills. Krutzfeldt said the interview process is required because the winner of the pageant in the teen and older categories will promote Pearl River County’s blueberry industry by making appearances through the year.
Younger contestants will be placed into various categories from birth to 12-years-old. The teen category is for contestants 13- to 15-years-old and Miss Blueberry is for contestants 16- to 18-years-old.
Krutzfeldt said that the attire for the pageant in each category can be found at the website listed above, but is primarily Sunday best or a suit for the interview process and a long gown for the pageant.
All judges for the event will be from out of the county.
Krutzfeldt said that while winners in each category will be prepared to compete in other pageants such as Miss Hospitality or Miss Mississippi, at times some winners receive a scholarship from the blueberry industry.
At the end of the pageant, Miss Blueberry Queen Skylar Baldwin and Teen Miss Blueberry Mackenzie Pharr will turn over their crowns to this year’s winners.