The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The Queen Mermaid Pageant is going ahead this summer now that enough contestants have signed up. The time-honoured Flin Flon tradition would have been canceled unless at least eight teens entered by Sunday. "Obviously it's a big commitment from the girls, they know that," said pageant director Loraine Poirier. "For this pageant to continue, we needed these young ladies to step forward, and it's going to be awesome." This year's contestants are Shaleen Baribeau, 17; Denee Church, 16; Camille Lamoges, 17; Steph Menzies, 17; Kira Misfeldt, 15; Michelle Pettersen, 17; Kayla Reeves, 17; and Kelsey Watt, 14. "It's a good group of girls who are really excited," said Poirier. Poirier said an article in The Reminder last week helped convince girls who had been on the fence to step forward. At the time of the article, at least two more contestants were needed. She also felt the article cleared up false rumours about changes to the pageant that may have been keeping contestants away. Poirier and a new committee of about 20 people have planned a number of changes for the 2004 edition of the pageant. That includes replacing the Talent Night with an event at which the contestants would learn about the community and deliver speeches on community-related topics. There's also a reduced practice schedule that calls for two practices per week rather than the three or four that took place in previous years. Once the Queen Mermaid and her First Princess are crowned, the committee hopes to schedule the girls to participate in more community events than in the past. Unlike previous years, the crowning of the new Queen Mermaid and First Princess will take place on July 4, not Canada Day. Brittany Brown is the current Queen Mermaid and Kayla Jackson is her First Princess.
