A lively crowd gathered at the chamber offices to snack on cookies, fruit and finger sandwiches and drink a delicious punch in salute to Watermelon Festival royalty.
Gigi Bradshaw, organizer of the pageant that will choose Miss and Mr. Watermelon Tuesday August 6th, told us the idea for the pageant comes from a previous chamber director who asked 18 years ago that the Beta Sigma Phi chapter Bradshaw was involved with, run the Miss Hempstead County pageant during the Third District Livestock Show, which happens in September.
“So he asked us to do this [the Miss Watermelon Pageant] and we did, but our chapter of Beta Sigma Phi is not active anymore. And so I took it over. I've done it for about seven or eight years, probably,” Bradshaw said.
The pageant will start at 6:00 p.m. for the audience and pageant contestants and participants are invited to come half an hour early for check in. The show should be an extravaganza this year, since, as Bradshaw reported, 40 contestants from ages 0 to 18 have registered.
Last year's royals in attendance at Wednesday's coffee included (left) Miss Watermelon Ari Juanes and (right) Little Miss Watermelon Piper Burns.
