Beauty pageant coming to Strathmore

Shannon LeClair

Times Reporter

 

Girls in and around town will have a chance to strut their stuff when the Dreamboat Dolls Natural Pageant comes to Strathmore on Aug. 28. 

Liz McKinnon, owner and director of WestCoast all Canadian Girls pageant, will be bringing the pageant to town. 

“My daughter has been doing pageants in the States since she was young and there wasn’t any up here in B.C, or in Canada really, that I knew of. So we just decided on a whim to start it and see if it would fly, and the response has been completely overwhelming,” said McKinnon. 

The pageant will be kept semi-natural, so the competitors will be able to wear a little make-up and dress up, but nothing extreme. She said in a natural pageant there is no make up and the dresses can be very plain, and she knows that the girls have fun dressing up so she wanted to keep that incorporated in a small way. 

There is no talent portion, but the girls can do kind of runway modeling and cute turns and poses into it if they want. There also is no age limit, and McKinnon said the oldest girl signed up so far is 20-years-old.  

In each community McKinnon and the Dreamboat Dolls pageant visits, she is requesting the participants bring an item to donate to the local food bank. 

“I just think its important for the girls to give back to the community as well because being in a pageant is a privilege and I don’t want them to take it for advantage,” said McKinnon.

“It does cost the moms $100 to put them in and I want them to also give back to the community because there’s probably a lot of little girls out there who would love to do it, but it’s just not in the budget for their family. I just want them to appreciate what they’re doing.”

Registration for the pageant, which will take place at the Civic Centre, ends on Aug. 21. McKinnon said she has to know who will be competing no later than then because she has to get the prizes ready. 

“Every single girl goes home with a crown, every single girl goes home with prizes. Some will get a sash, but they all go home with a title they have been crowned with,” said McKinnon. 

To find out more, or to register go to www.dreamdollsworld,com.