Six of Wapakoneta's talented and bright young women took to the Performing Arts Center stage on Wednesday night for the Miss Summer Moon Scholarship Pageant, marking the start of the 2018 Summer Moon Festival.
This year's contest featured six contestants, five juniors and seniors and one recent graduate of Wapakoneta High School, all competing for $2,000 in scholarship funds.
The candidates for 2018 Miss Summer Moon Queen were judged on five categories: a preliminary interview before the pageant, a platform speech, a creative performance, their evening wear, and their answer to an individual question. A three panel judge, consisting of Jamie Burger, the owner of Simply Torn in Lima; Dave Woodward, a radio host for 92.1 the Frog; and Demi Lynnae Burden, the owner of Chamberlain Huckeriede Funeral Home assigned and tallied the scores for each of the categories to determine Miss Summer Moon Queen, as well as Miss Photogenic, Miss Most Spirited, and Miss Congeniality.
2017 Summer Moon Queen Kelly Byrne, now a student at Ohio University, helped kick off the evening's festivities, as all contestants took part in the opening number alongside Byrne before the contest got under way.
That opening number set a tone for the creative portion of the event, as three of the contestants...
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