NORTH WEBSTER - After winning the North Webster Mermaid Festival 2024 Queen of the Lakes Pageant Saturday, Madison Nunez was grateful to all of her supporters.
“I feel unbelievably grateful. I think that my whole family really came together to help me through this process. I couldn’t have done it without them. And I almost teared up so many times on stage. I’m so grateful,” Nunez, who competed as Miss Chapman Lake, said after the pageant. “Thank you to the North Webster Community Lions Club.”
The 14 ladies who competed got close in a very short amount of time. Nunez said she was wishing for all of them but herself to win.
“Meeting them today, I felt like I met 100 new friends. I had an amazing time with these girls, and I hope to reconnect with them soon,” she said.
Nunez, 16, the daughter of Tana Churchill, North Webster, was sponsored by Ace Hardware. She is a student at Warsaw Community High School.
First runner-up for the 78th annual Queen of the Lakes was Rachel Studebaker, 17, Syracuse, Miss Wawasee Lake. The daughter of Robert and Laura Studebaker, her sponsor was Studebaker Family National Association. She is a student at Wawasee High School.
Second runner-up was Chloe Bollinger, 18, South Whitley, Miss Kuhn Lake. The daughter of Rick and Melissa Bollinger, her sponsor was Pierceton Masonic Lodge #377. She is a student at Western Governors University.

    Kendell Jaress, Miss Syracuse Lake, won Miss Congeniality and the People’s Choice Theme Wear Award at Saturday’s North Webster Mermaid Festival 78th annual Queen of the Lakes pageant. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union
  

Third runner-up was Lillian Kelsey, 20, Warsaw, Miss Barbee Lake. The daughter of Paula and Chris Kelsey, her sponsor was Chris Francis, Tippecanoe Township trustee. She is a student at Grace College.
The Shoops Sports & Youth Foundation offers scholarships to the winners of the pageant as follows: queen, $2,000 scholarship; first runner-up, $1,500; second runner-up, $1,000; and third runner-up, $500.
Miss Congeniality is the contestant who has earned the most votes from her fellow peers within the pageant as the girl who is the most considerate, friendly and willing to help others. The winner of the Miss Congeniality award receives $100 from the North Webster Lady Lions, and this year that was Kendell Jaress, 17, Syracuse, Miss Syracuse Lake. She is the daughter of Aaron and Amber Jaress, and her sponsor was Jaress Family Dentistry.
Parade winners receive additional scholarship money, with third place receiving $250; second place, $500; and first place, $750.
Daihya Chupp, 16, Warsaw Miss Winona Lake, daughter of Keri and Jeremy Fox received third. Second place went to Zaylee Guy, 17, North Webster, Miss Webster Lake, the daughter of Ben and Elise Guy. First place was awarded to Jaclynn Worrell, 18, Syracuse, Miss Papakeechie Lake, the daughter of Jason and Emily Worrell.
Their sponsors, respectively, were Brian Peterson Real Estate, Ski Bees and Mike Kissinger Surveying.
There were three Community Service Award winners this year, when generally there’s only one chosen each year from the North Webster Lady Lions. The 2024 winners were Jaclynn Worrell; Zaylee Guy; and Kendall Hepler, 20, Warsaw, Miss Kuhn Lake, the daughter of Brandon and Kelli Hepler.
Their sponsors, respectively, were Mike Kissinger Surveying, Ski Bees and Tecomet.
Corynn Barton, the 2021 Queen of the Lakes, served as the pageant emcee this year. She informed the audience that there was no #10 contestant in the sequence.
“We would like to congratulate Jordyn Leininger, who was #10 in the Queen of the Lakes pageant. She was crowned the Miss Kosciusko County Fair Queen on June 15. The Fair Queen is not allowed to hold two titles, so unfortunately, she had to withdraw from the pageant tonight,” Barton said.
To earn the title of Queen of the Lakes, each lady participates in four events related to the pageant, including personality, parade, theme wear and evening gown. The interview portion of the event took place Saturday morning, with each girl spending time with the judges in panel-style interviews, providing an assessment of the contestants’ ability to communicate.
Each contestant is required to participate in the Mermaid Festival parade, which took place at 4 p.m. Saturday down North Webster’s Main Street. Their imagination was their only limit, Barton said.
The theme for the festival, parade and pageant this year was “The American Dream.”

    The 14 contestants in the 78th annual Queen of the Lakes pageant at the North Webster Community Center sport their theme wear Saturday on the stage. Pictured (L to R) are Zaylee Guy, Anna Shock, Kendall Hepler, Chloe Bollinger, Abigayle Conner, Ava Couture, Daihya Chupp, Jaclynn Worrell, Madison Nunez, Lillian Kelsey, Rachel Studebaker, Brianna Lackey, Kendell Jaress and Gwendolyn Frank. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union
  

On the theme wear for the pageant, Barton explained that the girls were highly encouraged to think outside of the box.
“The girls will participate in another friendly competition for the People’s Choice Theme Wear Award,” she said. Each contestant had a container on a table near the pageant entrance where people could help select the winner of the theme wear award by putting money into the container of the contestant of their choice. “Each contestant will retain half of the money given in support of her theme wear outfit. The other half will be used by the Lady Lions for local projects.”
This year’s winner of the theme wear award went to Miss Congeniality Kendell Jaress.
After the personality, theme wear and evening wear competition, the field was narrowed down to the final four contestants. The final four women were given an opportunity to respond to the same question individually, without knowledge of the other contestants’ responses. This year the question was, “What is your American dream?”
In her response, Nunez said, “My American dream, as displayed in my theme wear, is that, in this country, women have the choice to shoot for the stars. They can do whatever they want, whether that is to be a stay-at-home mom - which is incredible hard work - or to be an astronaut and go into the stars.”
2023 Queen of the Lakes Jaela Faulkner crowned the contestants as Barton announced their names.