Carrollton Queen Pageant in the works

By Editor | July 9, 2024 |

By Carmen Ensinger

Girls, don’t put those pageant dresses away just yet. This November, Carrollton will hold their first-ever Miss Carrollton Queen Pageant.
“We have been granted permission from the City of Carrollton to hold an annual Miss Carrollton Pageant,” Organizer Jammie Gourley said. “At this time, we will not be in conjunction with another event, but could be in the future.”
The pageant will crown a Miss Carrollton, for girls 17-23; Teen Miss Carrollton, 14-16; Jr. Miss Carrollton, 10-13; Little Miss Carrollton, 5-9 and Little Mr. Carrollton, 4-8.
“Those who want to participate in the event will need to reside within the boundaries of the Carrollton Public School District,” Gourley said. “However, it is not a requirement to attend the public school – you just have to live within the boundaries.”
Gourley was asked why she decided to organize the pageant.
“The top reason is because so many of the towns around us, much smaller and not county seats, have a pageant and offer that opportunity to their youth,” she said. “Carrollton is such a wonderful place and our businesses and families deserve to be represented.”
But this pageant is going to serve as more than just a pageant.
“I wanted to start an organization that centered on volunteerism in our local Carrollton community,” Gourley said. “While we have our county level queens, they have different goals and focuses which include the entire county. Having a Carrollton queen would allow us to have official town host/hostesses and have efforts focused on volunteering right here in Carrollton.”
The choice to hold it in November had more to do with scheduling than anything else.
“We wanted to be considerate of the other pageants in the county,” Gourley said. “The Greene County Fair pageant was in May, Greenfield will be coming up in August and Greene County Days Pageant in September. We selected November to ensure we had no negative impact to any of the other already established pageants.”
Chances are the weather will be chilly, if not down right cold, come November, so the pageant will have to be held indoors.
“We are planning to hold it at the high school gym as long as the dates work out,” Gourley said. “I am waiting on final dates from the Athletic Director to finalize which of the two first weekends we will be using.”
Of course it takes money, and lots of it, to put on an event such as this, so Gourley is in the process of obtaining sponsors and getting donations.
“Right now we are in the process of collecting donations and obtaining advertising agreements from local businesses,” she said. “We have some pledges of sponsorship that I haven’t gotten a letter of intent or funding from, so those haven’t been announced yet, but, honestly there has been more interest this first year than I really anticipated.”
So far, Carrollton Bank and Ghrist Vet Clinic have signed on as sponsors.
The one thing that will set this pageant apart from the other pageants is that those chosen as queen in this pageant will be required to work on a Crown Cares project.
“Our queens will be doing something more than just serving food or riding in parades,” Gourley said. “They will be required to work on a Crown Cares project – a project that provides more of a long term legacy for Carrollton. Each group will determine what they care about and what they want to do.”
There are all kinds of possibilities.
“It might be a park bench, or they might plant some flowers or even start some kind of program,” Gourley said. “Or they might place a sign somewhere – but it will be something that leaves something behind.”
Signups will begin in late August through early September.