May 3—The Miss Somernites Cruise pageant, dormant for more than a decade, was all set to return this month and crown a new representative for Somerset's classic and custom car show.
Those plans, however, are no more.
The Somerset Junior Woman's Club (SJWC), which was holding the pageant, announced on Wednesday that the event scheduled for May 21 has been canceled.
"We just couldn't get enough participation," said SJWC's Wynona Padgett. "... I do find it surprising that a $1,000 scholarship did not (encourage) more teenage girls to compete."
The Miss Somernites winner was to be awarded a cash scholarship of $1,000 — $500 from SJWC, and $500 from Somernites Cruise. The Miss Teen Somernites and Princess categories would have also seen a prize of $100. Winners in other categories would keep their crown and sash.
But while SJWC was hoping for at least about 40 contestants overall in their planned revival of the pageant from the Cruise's early days, through all age groups, by the deadline for entry there was only about half that amount.
Padgett said they even waited a couple days past the deadline to see if any more entries were slow in coming, but they realized it was "just not going to happen."
Part of the problem, Padgett speculated, is that this event wasn't connected to any larger pageant organizations. Another is that it was going to be on the same weekend as local high school graduations, even though it was going to be on a Sunday. And also, SJWC was looking for a different type of contestant that might not always feel at home in other pageant settings.
"The thing that we had really tried to stress was that this was not a traditional beauty pageant," said Padgett. "We were looking for more well-rounded participants. That may be a turn-off to some some who do pageants on a regular basis. ... We wanted every young lady to feel welcome and that they could be in the pageant and not be a regular participant in beauty pageants or the glamorous young lady you see on TV in those pageants."
The Miss Somernites winner was going to attend Cruise events as a representative face of the car show.
Padgett said that Cruise organizers "completely understand" the pageant cancelation.
"We (SJWC) hope we can do something else with the Somernites Cruise management team," said Padgett. "We want to work with them on something, so maybe we can find something a little more in tune with what our community wants."