Samra Sarajlic, Miss Clay 2015
This year's River Days' contestant will be Samra Sarajlic.
Portsmouth Daily Times article and picture.
The contestants for the 2015 Miss River Days Pageant recently gathered for an informational meeting that outlined the role and expectations for each contestant.
This year’s contestants include Samra Sarajlic from Clay High School, Stephanie Fitzgerald from East High School, Breanna Burgett from Glenwood High School, Alexis Bays from Green High School, Brookelyn Mcbee of Minford High School, Whitney Jenkins of Northwest High School, Cameran Noel from Notre Dame High School, Lydia Cohen from Portsmouth High School, Jordan Hileman from West High School, Katy Oiler of South Webster, Taylor Sherwood from Valley High School and Juliana Logan of Wheelersburg.
Lori Lowe, pageant director, said the festival will celebrate the bicentennial of Portsmouth. She said each of the contestants will designtheir floats for the festival parade depicting a mural.
"The (order of floats) will be in historical order. Contestant number one is Valley (Sherwood) and she chose the third mural to start the parade with the Indians and settlers,” Lowe said.
According to a description by Portsmouth Murals Inc, the mural depicts a Shawnee Village in 1730. This mural shows a winter scene of a Shawnee Village with a view from the north, looking across the Ohio River.
When a new set of queens are crowned they travel around the state attending various festivals, representing River Days.
“We continue to travel with last year’s queens, so now it will be about balancing the schedule,” Lowe said.
She said during the meeting of the contestants they received all of the information needed for the entire summer.
“They will be looking for community service projects and platforms,” Lowe said.
She said the meeting served as a kickoff for a journey that will lead them to the pageant in September.
“It’s a great experience for them and ultimately like any pageant we want to prepare them to be better citizens and empowered women. We want them to learn skills that they’ll need all of their lives,” Lowe said.
For more information about the River Days Festival visit portsmouthriverdays.org, or find them on Facebook.
Source.
Allen, Wayne. "River Days Pageant Preparations Underway." portsmouth-dailytimes.com. 4 March 2015. 5 March 2015 <http://portsmouth-dailytimes.com/news/home_top-news/152172082/Pageant-preparations-underway>.