THUNDER BAY – It was a very exciting and eventful time this past weekend in Sudbury as the top three contestants from the Miss Thunder Bay Pageant competed for the title of Miss North Ontario. 

After months of  preparation, the pageant began with workshops, seminars, a photo shoot, and ice breakers with the other 40 contestants from all over North Ontario.

Miss North Ontario Pageant

The girls then participated in the opening preliminaries Friday night, by competing in the talent portion, and presenting their evening wear. 
Saturday was spent doing personal interviews with the judges, and presenting their public speeches, both components weighing heavily on who would move forward in the pageant.

Jacqueline Marsh who won the Miss Thunder Bay Pageant, along with Nerissa McRury representing Port Arthur, and Samantha Romeo representing Lakehead, were all successful in making the top 15 out of 43 contestants.

After the top 15 contestants were announced, our three delegates were given an onstage question at random.

They all answered with a high degree of knowledge and professionalism, and then were all picked to make the top 10 contestants. After a final evening wear presentation, the top five contestants were announced and Samantha Romeo was a part of that group!

Before the winner was announced, a variety of other awards were given out, and the Thunder Bay contestants proved to be fierce competitors.

Jacqueline Marsh was a finalist for Entrepreneur Of the Year, as well as a finalist for Most Talented. She was then selected to move on and compete in the Miss Teen Canada Pageant, a huge honour and step in her pageant career.

Nerissa McRury was a finalist for the Fitness Award, Ambassador of the Year Award, as well as Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and was the winner of the Evening Gown Presentation award, for her perfect pageant walk and showing off her stunning gown from locally owned LUX Boutique.

Nerissa and Samantha Romeo were both chosen as delegates for Miss Universe Canada, a very hard to achieve goal which will open many doors and new opportunities for them. Samantha won the title of Miss Fitness, which came with a brand new exercise bike!

She ended up placing as 3rd runner up to the title of Miss North Ontario, beating out 39 girls for that position! Our city should be very proud of the dedication and hard work shown by our local pageant representatives, and I cannot wait to see how well they do in their next step, the nationals!

The next Miss Thunder Bay Pageant will take place this winter. The date will be announced June 1st with applications being available at that time. Contact luxboutique@live.ca for further information.

Submitted by Miss Thunder Bay Director: Tegin Popowich