Nine young beauties are vying for the inaugural title Miss Skeldon Heritage Resort. The pageant will be staged at the Skeldon Heritage Resort (formerly known as the GUYSUCO sugar estate) tomorrow night.

This event will see the young ladies competing in four categories; the intelligence, talent, resort wear, and evening wear as they compete for the coveted crown and several attractive prizes. The theme of the pageant is ‘Diversity’ and this theme was fuelled by the fact that the contestants competing are from diverse backgrounds and races.

The delegates who hail from communities in and around Skeldon have all expressed confidence of doing well, and sparks are set to fly among two sisters who are competing head to head in the pageant.

Coordinator of the pageant, Linden Murray who is the brainchild behind the initiative said that it was over a year ago that he conceptualised the pageant and felt confident that if executed the response would be very good. He disclosed that when a call was made for contestants they were very heartened by the response they received.  He said that some of them were unable to go further owing to the limited sponsorship opportunities in the area.

He said that after being entrusted with the management of the resort he decided to use the pageant as a marquee event for the resort.

The contestants include Chovesha Tahal a 22 year old television hostess and marketing agent at Channel 19 TV station, 15 year old Renee France hailing from the Amerindian community of Siparuta, and Ishieka Nowrang, 18 years old and currently works as a cashier at Muchies Fast Food Outlet.

Competing as well is 15 year old India Laljit who is currently a student at Skeldon Line Path Secondary School, Lalita Laljit who is the younger sister of Indira , and 19 year old Natoya Rawlins who is considered among the contestants as one of the two veterans owing to the fact that she has contested in six pageants already and won three of those. Atasha Pantlitz is a 19 year-old and is the other veteran who like Rawlins has competed in six pageants as well. Despite only winning two crowns she is very confident of taking home the inaugural crown.

19 year old Latisha Boyce who is eagerly awaiting competition night to showcase her stuff is currently pursuing studies in her quest to become a Human Resources Officer, That aside, in the lineup also is 16 year old Felicia Reece, a fifth form student at Sheldon Line Path Secondary where she will be writing seven subjects at next year’s CSEC exams.

Meanwhile, the young ladies are being taken through their paces by popular pageant trainer Simeon Burnett who is also a television host of the popular Channel 19 programme in Berbice, Music Mix.

Tickets for the pageant are already on sale at a cost of $1000, while music for the event would be provided by Uprising Sound Systems. It was disclosed that a number of popular artistes and performers will also grace the stage and Berbicians near and far, are guaranteed an exciting experience, come pageant night.