NORTH WEBSTER – It was a busy weekend in North Webster as the 67th Annual Mermaid Festival drew in thousands to the area.
And two of the main draws were the 2012 North Webster Lioness’ Cutie Pageant that took place Friday night and the Queen of the Lakes Pageant Saturday night.
Kristin Quick was named Queen of the Lakes while Haley Rodewald and Johnny Likens were named Cutie Queen and King.
Fifteen contestants competed in the Queen of the Lakes contest.
Each contestant took place in the themewear competition as well as an evening gown competition.
Four girls, Kaytlyn Eberly, Kristin Lemaitre, Ashley O’Connor and Quick, all earned service award recognitions Saturday night.
Service award winners won $100 each.
Jenna Coy was named the parade winner. The parade took place Saturday afternoon.
She earned $750. Kierstin Bailey was second while Eberly was third. They earned $500 and $250 respectively.
Erika Ksiezopolski was named 2012 Miss Congeniality.
During an intermission Saturday night, those in attendance at the North Webster Community Center, took place in a monetary vote to crown the People’s Choice Theme Wear winner.
Erin Kintzel won the most money though that amount was disclosed. She took home half of the money. Finally the contest was narrowed down to four with Bailey, Eberly, Coy and Quick.
Each finalist was asked “What have you learned about yourself after participating in today’s pageant?”
“It’s a really humbling experience,” said the eventual winner Quick. “To see so many girls, involved in so many ways in the community, it makes you realize you can always do more.”
Coy was named third runner up, Bailey was named second runner-up and Eberly was named first runner-up.
Coy earned $500 in scholarships for her placing while Bailey earned $1,000, Eberly earned $1,500 and Quick earned $2,000.
The 2011 Queen of the Lakes Victoria Chamberlin was on hand to help emcee Jay Johnson with Saturday night’s festivities.
Quick is getting quite good at winning pageants as she was crowned the 2011 Miss Kosciusko Fair Queen. Though she’s pretty new to the pageant scene.
Nearly 50 boys and girls participated in the cutie pageant.
After two hours, the group was paired down to a final three boys and girls.
Mikilah Wiggs was named third runner-up, Chasity Miller was second runner-up and Lauren Baner was first runner-up for the girls.
Alexander Shock, Luke Keim and Daniel Speakman were named to the boys court.
Rodewald, 6, Warsaw is the daughter of Ashley Rodewald, Warsaw and Scott Rodewald, Westfield.
Likens, 5, Syracuse, is the son of Megan and Neil Likens.
Parade winners were also announced Friday night. The cutie parade took place Wednesday.
In the walking unit, winners were: 4th – Mallory Syznal 3rd - Luke Keim 2nd – Johnny Likens 1st – Cameron Senter In the walking unit: 4th – Zoe Taylor 3rd – Zeke Keim 2nd – Mikilah Wiggs 1st – Haley Rodewald In the motorized unit: 4th – Kasey Gunkle 3rd – Delaney Hare 2nd – Joy Bucher 1st – Quincie Stump
The Best of parade winner was Cameron Senter.
Ken Strong Productions did both pageants.
Follow staff writer Daniel Riordan on Twitter at @TUNews_Riordan
