31st Annual WESA Pageant: June 09, 2018 @ Celebrities. Doors at 7pm.
The "Miss WESA Baseball Beauty Pageant" as it was known 1n 1987 was the brainchild of three WESA Members who were playing on the Celebrities baseball team. Mark Sullivan, Gregg Welliver and Art Gullett got together to plan a league party at their new sponsors' place of business. The inital concept was to put on a drag show but evolved into asking each team in the league to put up a contestant to compete in a swimsuit, evening gown/talent and skill testing question competiton. Needless to say it was a big hit and the WESA PAGEANT, as it is now known, was born.
The concept is simple, each team in the league solicits a candidate to represent them in the WESA PAGEANT. The contestant usually is a "rookie" player to the league, however some contestants entered multiple times until they won the coveted title!!!
The contestants must participate in swimsuit competition where they wear a Team Banner. The Banner is usually a part of the scoring by the judges. Elaborate banners have been made by the Teams to support their candidate.
The contestants then perform a number which is judged for lipsynch, originality, audience reaction and costume.
The three finalists are selected and skill testing questions are asked to add to their point totals. The judges select the 2nd runner up, 1st runner up and the winner who becomes Miss/Mr. WESA for the upcoming season.
The only expectation is that the winner returns the following year to do a step down number and help to crown the new winner.
The original crown for Miss WESA was a carboard creation, made by an elementary class in Surrey taught by one of our WESA members. Since then many creations have usually been crafted with some type of "softball" theme.
There have been a variety of hosts for the Pageant including a number of current WESA members. Sydney Malcolm, Pat King and Art Gullett have hosted multiple times and the original Host Mr. Bill Monroe hosted many years when the Pageant first started. Other Special event Commissioners and some local celebrity drag queens have also done the honors.
The WESA PAGEANT has become a major community event. What started as a fun evening for some ball players has turned into a major fundraiser for charities in the downtown neigbourhood. In the last 25 years the Pageant has donated over $100,000.00 to various charities.
