The Annual Miss Kane County Pageant’s 2023-24 edition held in the Kanab High School Theater on Wednesday evening, July 26, was composed of contestants in the 13-19 age category. Its stated goal is offering a new program of free clinics for all young women throughout the year, whether they participate in the pageant or not, through the generosity of a county-wide range of supporting sponsors.
Left to right, photos by Jerry Melrose:
The full production team, including director Camberly Anderson and judges.
Members of the newly installed Miss Kane County Royal Court of 2023-24 are (left-to-right): Miss Cordiality and Queen Second Attendant Kaylee Brinkerhoff, Queen First Attendant Kessa Wheeler, Queen Shelby Springall, Miss Photogenic and Princess Jaylee Hoyt, Princess First Attendant Shelby Tullis, along with former Princess Sheridyn Hoyt.
In the tableau finish of their raucous “Rosie the Riveter” production number, featuring Coach Jenna Corry’s choreography to the musical collaboration of the Four Vagabonds from 1942 joined with Meghan Trainor’s 2016 hit, ”Woman Up” are: (left-to-right): Jaylee Hoyt, Kaylee Brinkerhoff, Shelby Springall and Kessa Wheeler.
The evening’s theme was set by the acknowledgment of Dowager Queen Honoree Merrilyn Johnson Cornell, 1966, by a “We Can Do It!” set of replica WWII-era recruiting posters, including a “red bandana with white polka-dots” dance number, choreographed by Production Coach Jenna Corry of Red Rock Academy to the original 1942 R&B version of “Rosie the Riveter” by the Four Vagabonds and “Woman Up” (2016) by Meghan Trainor.
The ubiquitous Pageant Director, Camberly Anderson, in full Rosie regalia, MC’d the colorful event consisting of interview, talent and gown segments, pre-assisted by Coaches Calli Kelly, Brittany Hoyt and Gentry Glazier, respectively. In addition to the on-site three-judge panel of decision makers, for the first time ever, the attending audience and online livestream voting calculations were provided by Garkane Energy.
Between the Q&A interview and talent Segments, Little Miss Kane County Queen, Harley Sharkey and Mini Miss Second Attendant Jemma Staples graced the stage with their winning dance routines. Jaylee Hoyt led off with a serenely played meditative piano performance, followed by a leaping modern dance from Shelby Tullis. For the Queen category, Kessa Wheeler created a cleverly imaginative self-directed big screen cooking video featuring herself live on-stage joining in a responsive conversational dialog exchange. Then, a silver- sequined pantsuit Kaylee Brinkerhoff mysteriously painted bold black strokes on large white drawing paper mounted on an easel. Silently, she’d occasionally engaged the audience with rhythmic gestures accompanied by a medley of Michael Jackson tunes, only to suddenly twirl the painted figure upside down to reveal a surprising portrait of Michael Jackson himself. With a tip of her hat, it was lights out. Shelby Springall, adorned as a white smocked lab scientist wearing protective glasses, conducted a chemical experiment demonstrating the volatile nature of how blending certain liquids can transform from foam into an apparently firm physical insulation substance.
During the interregnum, an exquisitely elegant contemporary dance from outgoing Princess Sheridyn Hoyt, along with a pleasant happily relaxing ukulele offering from Queen Madison Patton served to bid their waving farewells to the appreciative assemblage of viewers. After the final royal walk while votes were being tabulated, the scholarship awards were ultimately presented accordingly: Queen Shelby Springall - $1900, plus $100 for gown segment and $650 for a community service award; First Attendant Kessa Wheeler - $1100, plus $100 for interview; Second Attendant Kaylee Brinkerhoff - $800, plus $200 as Miss Congeniality and $100 for talent. Princess Jaylee Hoyt - $850, plus $200 as Miss Photogenic; First Attendant Shelby Tullis - $550.
A joyous Princess Jaylee Hoyt, succeeding her sister, Sheridyn, shares, “The experience has been so much fun! I love each and every one of these girls. They’re so nice and sweet ... so supportive when on-stage. They’re just cheering you on backstage. And it’s just so great to have that feeling of just being able to have fun and being confident out there. My platform was on confidence, and I believe it’s just a great skill for our little girls of our generation to get that experience. We had a Little Miss Kane County Pageant, and Sheridyn actually hosted it, and I want to continue that for our little girls. We had 13 girls show-up, and it was a lot! And it was so much fun to be backstage and just support them when they go on-stage. And actually, I told them, ‘give me your nerves’ and then they would just go out there and come back with just the biggest smiles on their faces.”
Thinking ahead, this eighth-grader muses, “I want to be a veterinarian. I’ve had the experience to go to Cedar [City], and I got to shadow one of the vets there. And it was so amazing to see how far we’ve come in the medical field. With all the things that we can save lives with. And it was just so eye opening to me!”
Queen Shelby Springall exultingly proclaims, “This entire experience is just so amazing between the girls who are all here, and just the time and dedication that it all took to actually make it to here today. It’s just so wonderful to see everyone’s kinda’ Introducing Miss Kane County Queen Shelby Springall and Princess Jaylee Hoyt talent, and all their answers and their questions just really all came together tonight. And I’m just so proud that I can honor Kane County as Miss Kane County.
“My platform is ‘Women in Education’ in STEM,” she continues. “This year, I’m gonna’ be working in the Kane Education Foundation for Calli Kelly, the head Foundation Director. I really work on getting more programs out there for kids and students all throughout Kane County, I’m also going to be working with the 4-H program to do a girls camp this year.” She straightforwardly notes, “I just graduated from Kanab High School, and I’ll be attending SUU this fall semester as a freshman, even though I graduated with my associate degree completed. I’m going to be majoring in Pre-Dental, going into Orthodontics.”
