Miss East Bank pageant still on
…despite tragic death of one contestant
Kaieteur News
June 14, 2004
GEORGETOWN- Despite the tragic death two weeks ago of one of its contestants the stage is set for the staging of the inaugural Miss East Bank Talented Teen 2004 pageant. Information from the organisers is that the pageant will go ahead as planned and the winner will represent the East Bank area at the national talented teen pageant, on August 7.
However one notable change would be that the original list of ten is now down to eight. According to a source close to the pageant organisers, “We were hoping for a competition that featured ten but we had to settle for nine”. Then tragedy struck in a street brawl at Mocha that claimed the life of the Mocha representative, Keneisha Baird on Tuesday, June 8.
The source described the incident as ‘unfortunate’ and said that the fight had nothing to do with the upcoming pageant. He offered condolences to Baird’s family.
“It was a case of three girls fighting for a boy. It had nothing to do with this pageant.” The fight, the source said, involved two Miss Mocha queens and one other girl.” Post mortem results were that Baird died as a result of cardiac arrest. Her heart was three times the size of a person her age.
The inaugural Miss East Bank Talented Teen pageant would be staged on June 19 at the Diamond Community Centre ground.
The objective of the pageant is to groom young girls as role models and ambitious women. It also offers the delegates a chance to showcase their talent. The delegates are drawn from Mocha, Diamond, Little Diamond, Grove, Caneville, Eccles and Coverden. Their ages range from13 to17.
Coordinator Ann Baker says that delegates have already started training for what would be termed the most talked about pageant on the East Bank. “They are appearing in swimwear and evening gowns and would also be displaying their talent. “In addition they would be part of an intelligence segment after which a queen would be crowned.” Prizes of cash, jewelry and gifts totaling over $100,000 would be awarded to the queen and her runners up.
Funds raised from this event would be used to prepare the East Bank representative to contest the national pageant.