Miss Merrie Christmas, No More?
Watch the full interview, thanks to Emily at KOLR10 for tracking me down. I hope a sponsor can afford $8k for this tradition to continue and give girls scholarship money, an experience unlike any other and the chance to represent Springfield once again.
Here is the full interview:
(Springfield, MO) -- The lights may dim early at the Miss Merrie Christmas pageant. It's been a Springfield tradition for more than 50 years. But this year's pageant could be canceled.It's an event known for kicking off the holiday season and for sharing the gift of education with winners through scholarship money. Turns out, money is what's keeping organizers from planning the event, unless a corporate sponsor steps forward.An athlete at heart, Marissa Whitley decided to throw her crown in the ring in after a fellow Glendale student won the Miss Merrie Christmas pageant."She was on my track team and was a girl's girl, but not the pageant type. I thought, 'Well if she can do it, I can do it,'" remembers Whitley.Just weeks later, Whitley was crowned 1999's Miss Merrie Christmas."I didn't expect to win, but for me it opened up all of the other doors," says Whitley.From the door to a car parading her through Springfield to a door leading to a national stage, when she won Miss Teen USA. So news that the keys to those doors, the pageant, may be canceled, saddens Whitley.The Urban Districts Alliance hosts the annual event, but the money that makes it happen hasn't come in this year because of the economy."It takes $7,000 to $8,000 to run the event," says Rusty Worley, Executive Director of Urban Districts Alliance. "The main thing that this event lacks, right now, is a champion."A sponsor to pick judges and help recruit young women."We could help them with that process. It's just finding someone," says Worley.High school juniors and seniors compete for the title to win college scholarship money."This would be a scholarship opportunity lost," says Worley.Whitley used that opportunity to propel herself into the marketing world. She's now joining the search for a sponsor to pay for the pageant."I think we can raise that. My efforts will be to have the tradition carry on," says Whitley.Worley says there's not a deadline to find a sponsor, but the sooner an organization comes forward, the better.So what about all the other holiday festivals? Worley says all of those Springfield holiday traditions, like Festival of Lights and First Night, are good to go this year.
