Registration deadline nears for H&H pageant

Contestants are needed for the annual Hootin an Hollarin Queen Pageant, to be held at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 20. The pageant is always one of the highlights during the opening night of Gainesville’s annual Hootin an Hollarin festival, to be held this year Sept. 20-22.

Ozark County girls age 14-18 are invited to participate in the pageant and compete for a chance to be crowned 2012 Hootin an Hollarin queen. The setting for this year’s contest is “Grandpa’s Barn,” with each contestant presenting a 90-second talk about something she has found while visiting an Ozark County grandpa’s barn.

Pageant Committee members Linda Harlin, Nancy Walker and Jerri Sue Crawford hope to have all Ozark County high schools represented in the pageant. They say they’re happy to help contestants with their dresses and speeches and in arranging rides to rehearsals.

Each contestant will receive a Hootin an Hollarin T-shirt along with a gift certificate to Subway. The queen wins a $100 cash prize, and the queen and her court win charms and enjoy a pizza party; they will make several promotional trips throughout the year accompanied by Hootin an Hollarin ambassador Jerri Sue Crawford.

A queen pageant registration form is on page 2 of this week’s Times. It can be clipped out, filled in and delivered to any Century Bank of the Ozarks location or mailed to Linda Harlin, P.O. Box 68, Gainesville, MO 65655. The sign-up deadline is Monday, Aug. 31. The first rehearsal is Wednesday, Sept. 5. For details, call Linda at 679-3321 or Nancy at 679-4493.