The annual Miss YWCA pageant will be held Saturday night at the City Center. In 15 years the miss y pageant has done what no other pageant has done, on a grand stage it has shown that life doesn't end at 60, it's only just beginning. And this year's crop of contenders offer more proof of that. Here's a preview of Saturday's show.
Keith Swift Reporting,
These are the dance moves of preschoolers at the Y.........this is how the Y teenagers move...and....these are the moves of the Y's seenagers.
[Video Clip of Seenagers Dancing]
These six seenagers are all over 60, most of them retired, and all are competing to be the next Miss Y. The contestants are 64-year-old Marie Lewis; 62 year old Anita Henry; 78 year old Emily Avilez; 60 year old Janet Graham; 69 year old Eileen Haylock; and 69 year old Norma Sutherland. The women say they've forgotten their arthritis and their backaches and they will take over the City Center stage on Saturday because they want to show that you can have fun after 60.
Janet Graham, 60 years old
"I decide that the only way I can do something for my town and the community is by participating in this pageant so that I can get out to tell the young people, or show the young people and the people of my age that it is never too late to do something for your community."
Anita Henry, 62 years old
"I didn't know I could get out there and jig but it is fun. The fun part for me is when we are all trying to bow. Our bones are stiff, our muscles are all tired up, and there we are trying to go down like the young ones but we are doing it so we can do it. Nothing is impossible.
Eileen Haylock, 69 years old
"It is real exciting the way how we ladies show ourselves because we are home and we are not doing anything and they don't know what we can do and so we come out and we show what we can do. Well I do a lot of little things but most of all I love dancing and that is what I am going to do."
Norma Sutherland, 69 years old
"It is going to be fun. I have always watched it and watched the ladies en joy themselves and watch the crowd and many of the ladies, many of us, have never been in a pageant and we never thought that at this age we would be in a pageant. I think it helps us to get more self-esteem. When you reach a certain age they tend to leave you and forget about you. Like me, I was a teacher and after you are retired, people forget about you but if you come out and show what you still have, I think Belizeans have learnt to appreciate us."
And one contestant who will show what she's got is 78 year old Emily Avilez, the oldest of the bunch. Her favorite pastime is dancing which she normally does at home but on Saturday she'll take it to the stage for the first time.
Emily Avilez, 78 Years Old
"I like to dance, all the time I dance. I don't have any partner but I dance at my home anytime the music is playing. I like to move, I a moveable person. I am 78 years old but I don't have any pain in my knees...."
Keith Swift,
So no arthritis?
Emily Avilez,
"No I don't have any arthritis and I don't have no pain complaint or nothing so I am always moving and I am flexible at doing anything that I see out there that young people can do, I can do."
And that says pageant organizer Birdy Francis is one of the reasons for continuing the 15-year tradition of the Miss Y Pageant. She says the pageant is one of the Y's main fundraisers.
Birdy Francis, Pageant Coordinator
"This money that we raise from this function is going to carry us for the next few months so we are encouraging everybody to please support us as you did before so we can count on you because we really need it. We have the early leavers program as you know that the kids can't pay their tuition most of the time so we need the help. We need Belize to stand up with us and help us as you normally do and we know we can depend on them."
And if that isn't reason enough, then it's best summed up by contestant Marie Young.
Marie Lewis, 64 years old
"If you don't come, they will lose out. They will lose right out because they will hear about it and say, 'gosh I should have been here.'"
Showtime on Saturday night is 7. Tickets can be bought from YWCA members or at the door.
