By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
OCEAN CITY — The sultry month of August is pageant time in America’s Greatest Family Resort, where three young ladies and a hermit crab are crowned each summer.
Seasonal resident Maddyn Randazzo was “over the moon” after being crowned Miss Ocean City 2022 on Aug. 14 at the Ocean City Music Pier.
She jumped right in to start fulfilling her duties as one of the city’s royal ambassadors Wednesday morning for Wacky Wednesday — Prince and Princess Party, during which little boys and girls created their own crowns with Randazzo, Junior Miss Ocean City Natalie Argento and Little Miss Ocean City Antonella DiAntonio.
“It was amazing. I love talking to little kids. It was so cute — a bunch of little girls were running to me and were like ‘Are you a real princess?’” the 19-year-old said. “I love being surrounded by little kids and seeing them live out the memories that I lived out as a kid.”
Randazzo is a model of perseverance, having competed in Little Miss Ocean City, Junior Miss Ocean City and Miss Ocean City pageants eight years straight before winning the title.
“I love it. I don’t even do it for the win; I do it to bond with the girls and everything,” Randazzo said.
Argento was participating in one of the final events in her two-year reign (extended a year due to COVID-19).
The pageant queens, including Junior Miss Ocean City 2022 Makenna Fleming and Little Miss Ocean City 2022 Arianna DiAntonio, take part in many of the city’s family-friendly events throughout their reign. (Fleming and DiAntonio were crowned over the weekend.) One event Randazzo has circled on her calendar is the Ocean City Airport Festival on Sept. 18. The pilot-in-training plans to fly a small plane from college at The Ohio State University to the island for the event.
The event will feature a ground display of rare airplanes ranging from World War II bombers to classics and warbirds.
Later Aug. 14, Randazzo and Argento made an appearance to judge the annual Miss Crustacean Hermit Crab Beauty Contest and preside over the hermit crab races.
Contestants in the pageant lined up along the boardwalk on the beach at Sixth Street with their dioramas featuring various themes.
Tom and Mandie Viola of Middletown, Del., brought Nicholas, 10, and Isabella, 8, to the competition to try to best their second-place finish in 2018 and 2019.
Their crab Kassie won the hermit crab race last year and they were hoping to repeat as champions.
It was the third year participating for the family, and this year they were going head to head, boys versus girls.
“We could not come together on an idea,” Mandie Viola said.
The boys made a replica of the crab races, with a boardwalk featuring spectators overlooking the stadium, while the girls created a crazy crab lady and hermit crab rescue vehicle.
“If either of us wins we both win,” Isabella said.
Nicholas, who seemed a bit reticent about sharing a win, said his favorite part of the event is that “we go up against a lot of good people and it’s fun to see who wins each year.”
The family spends the summer at a campground in Upper Township and likes to participate in competitions at home and in the city.
Meanwhile, Springfield, Pa., residents Maura McCarthy, 10, Nadia Marzano, 11, and James Marzano, almost 9, were setting up their entry, The Sandylot, based on their favorite film “The Sandlot.”
It featured three levels of items representing different parts of the film.
“We decided to do the Sandylot and we put the jersey on the top, a baseball stadium on the bottom and the grass from the sand lot,” Nadia said. “Around the perimeter, we have the baseball diamond and over here the treehouse. This is the pool area and we put the glasses in it because when Squints jumps into the pool he forgets to take off his glasses and they fall to the bottom. The middle one is a baseball hat and a baseball glove and the bottom is the junkyard.”
Also participating were Victoria Kanoff, 10, and sister Ryleigh, 8, of Horsham, Pa. Unlike some contestants who plan well in advance and take hours to create their display, the sisters’ mother, Lee Kanoff, said they had just found out about the event in the morning at Wacky Wednesday so went out and bought hermit crabs and other items for the competition.
Lee Kanoff said the family usually stays in the city’s Southend but got a place this year closer to Sixth Street.
“I was trying to find something to do so I went to Ocean City events and I found a whole list of events we can partake in,” she said, noting her daughters made their crowns at the Wacky Wednesday event earlier that day.
Kanoff said she and her husband, Ryan, started visiting the city when they were in their teens.
“We’ve been coming every year since,” she said.
Michael Allegretto, aide to Mayor Jay Gillian, said the crowd was a bit smaller than usual, noting the event is part of the legacy of longtime city special events guru Mark Soifer, who died earlier this year.
“He started it and we will continue it and keep trying to get bigger and better every year,” Allegretto said.
The same was true for the 111th annual Baby Parade the prior week, likely the result of the city having to cancel nearly all of its events in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re still getting back to being involved and getting people engaged,” Allegretto said, adding there traditionally are 15 to 20 entrants (this year there were only about 10) in the pageant and eight to 10 heats in the races.
Mr. Mature America wraps up the pageant circuit Sept. 12. The event, scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Ocean City Music Pier, is a talent showcase for men 55 years and older. Contestants compete in talent, poise and interview categories to emphasize the relevance and contributions of senior citizens.