NORTH WEBSTER – They all might not know what a bicentennial is, much less know how to spell or pronounce it, but about 80 kids took part in the 71st Annual Mermaid Festival Cutie Parade Wednesday evening. Many chose to dress up as famous Hoosiers like Michael Jackson and Orville Redenbacher, while others celebrated the state’s birthday by riding on Indianapolis 500 or basketball floats to match this year’s theme of Indiana’s bicentennial. The children not only came from different parts of Kosciusko County, but also from Eugene, Ore.; Fort Wayne, Columbia City, Goshen, Kimmel, South Bend, North Manchester and Noblesville among other cities, according to a list of the participants. North Webster Lions Club secretary Melissa Longenecker explained that there’s three units in the parade – handdrawn, motorized and walking. They are judged on creativity, originality and theme, she said. There is scholarship money for first through fourth place in each unit. The scholarships are given by the Shoop Foundation. First place in each unit gets $5,000; second place, $2,500; third place, $1,500; and fourth place in each unit gets $1,000. Winners will not be announced until the cutie pageant Friday. Any child in the cutie pageant was required to be in the cutie parade, but the parade is open to children 14 and under, Longenecker stated. The pageant Friday is only for children 4 to 6 years old. There were three judges for each unit for a total of nine judges. Longenecker said, “We try to get judges who aren’t located in North Webster.” This year’s judges included Peggy Sellers, Vicki French, Rita Roberts, Rachelle Cooper, Taylor Garr, Allisun Wine, Sherry Caverly, Jennifer Maier and Louise Strieby.
