Philipsburg:--- The Miss Mature Carnival Queen Pageant is back with a bang! St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation (SCDF) will be introducing the contestants for their pageants for Carnival 2012 this week and has started with an impressive amount of 9 for the mature pageant that caters to women 26 years of age or older.
Last held 5 years ago, the Mature Pageant has since been one of the most popular requested shows by Carnival and pageant lovers. The SCDF decided in 2012 to give the show another shot and has been rewarded with high participation, growing excitement and a group of participants from various walks of life. Some of which, are former queens while others are no strangers to the stage.
The pageant will be held on Monday, April 23 in Carnival Village. The nine ladies will participate in five categories of competition, talent, sports, Carnival costume, evening wear and the interview segment on stage. Contestants will also participate in various public outings and make appearances at SCDF events in the lead-up to their big night.
The backgrounds of the nine contestants vary from school teacher, hotel reservation manager to executive secretaries, medical workers and more. They are Tatiana Arrindell, Lisette Carty, Shanna Cornet de Riggs, Mireya Ostiana-Wijman, Davia Bailey-Wilson, Diana Gumbs, Lavinia Marsham, Sharon Layne and Charmain Radjouki.
"The hype around this show is already very high, just from word-of-mouth. When we start to promote all of our local events, we expect this to increase and expect the show to get terrific support from the general public," President of the SCDF Stuart Johnson said.
"The mature pageant is for professional women who just feel like having a good time for Carnival and doing something different. Some of our contestants have been in pageant before, some are past queens. We are excited that they chose to be part of Carnival in this fashion and guarantee that this will be a show that no one should miss," Johnson said.
He added that the show is being coordinated by veteran pageant coordinator Rhoda Smith-Fowler and her team and is sponsored by United Telecommunication Services (UTS) Chippie. UTS have also stepped up as a sponsor for the Teen and Senior Carnival Queen Pageants. The contestants for those pageants will also be introduced this week.
