OCEAN CITY — Harper Juelg is judgy, but in a fun way.
As she ends her reign Friday night as Little Miss Ocean City 2026, Harper said her favorite duties this past year have been “all of the judging.”
Ocean City’s queens — Little Miss, Junior Miss and Miss Ocean City — represent the resort at scores of events over the course of a year.
“I loved doing the sand sculpting contest and the freckle contest,” she said, among the other silly events Ocean City hosts throughout the summer, including on Wacky Wednesdays, to amuse residents and visitors alike.
“I think they are great events that see families in our town come together,” she said. “I’m very happy that I can be part of those events and judge and see people be so happy when they win.”
Being Little Miss, she said, “means so much. It means that the town looks up to me and I get to be part of all these Wacky Wednesdays, races, parades, everything. It is so special to me.”
Harper said it was special being crown sisters with Miss Ocean City Antonella DiAntonio and Junior Miss Ocean City Arianna DiAntonio the past year. She had grown close to them before she was crowned. Harper was first runner-up for three years before she won the title last August. She and Antonella got to enjoy watching Antonella’s younger sister get crowned the next evening.
“It’s special to the three of us that we got to bond together over this year,” she added.
Harper noted that at one of the first events the three new queens hosted after being crowned, a 5K race, “we made our group chat and we coordinated our outfits and it was the first time we got to bond together at one event. And I’ll never forget that event because I started thinking about the rest of the events and they were telling me to slow down.”
One of the last big events the girls attended was the Night in Venice boat parade. “We coordinated our outfits and seeing all the (decorated) houses and waving was so much fun. And the people on the boat were so nice.”
Like Antonella and Arianna, Harper is a dancer. She said she likes contemporary dance the best because it lets her express how she feels.
While Antonella is headed off to college and Arianna is going into her junior year at Ocean City High School, Harper, 12, is going into seventh grade at Ocean City Intermediate School in September. She is looking forward to seeing the friends she didn’t get to see all summer. “I’m also excited for seventh grade because a lot of people said that’s their favorite grade.”
She keeps a busy schedule at school, just as she has as Little Miss. In addition to hours of dance, she does sports including cross country, track, field hockey and plans to try out for volleyball.
The daughter of Wes and Ashley Juelg, Harper’s siblings are Gunner, Lincoln and Rip.
Harper encourages other little girls to take part in the city’s pageant system.
“It’s good to get them involved because it shows how much your city cares and how much you should care for the city you live in,” she said. “It’s so much fun to bond with the girls and get new friendships and it’s exciting to see the new winner and how excited they are.”
There are 18 girls competing for the title of Little Miss Ocean City 2027 Friday evening, Aug. 14, at the Ocean City Music Pier.
For the record, Harper hopes to compete for Junior Miss with the chance to be crown sisters again with Arianna, who plans to go for the Miss Ocean City title.
– By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
