Resort adds Junior Miss Night in Venice, Little Miss NIV pageants
OCEAN CITY — The winners of the inaugural Junior Miss Night in Venice and Little Miss Night in Venice pageants are Hailey McManus and Lila Knuth, respectively.
The two girls were among 18 contestants for the pageants July 15 on stage at the Ocean City Music Pier.
The contestants took part in off-stage interviews. On stage, the competitions featured boat wear and formal wear for the Little Miss contestants and evening gown and on-stage questions for the Junior Miss contestants.
McManus is 15 years old from Somers Point and is a rising sophomore at Gwynedd Mercy Academy High School in Pennsylvania.
“It’s just a surreal moment right now,” Hailey said after being crowned. “I’m so grateful for everyone I met and all my friends and family that came out and supported me tonight.”
Knuth, 9, is home-schooled and is from Egg Harbor Township. Winning, she said, felt “amazing.” Knuth said she was looking forward to riding on a boat during this coming Saturday’s Night in Venice Boat Parade.
Pageant Director Aggie Becker said she was “super happy” with how the new combined pageant turned out. “The audience was awesome. We had a lot of great participants.”
Miss New Jersey Kylie Gene Wright was the emcee for the pageant with support from Miss Ocean City Antonella DiAntonio, Junior Miss Ocean City Arianna DiAntonio and Little Miss Ocean City Harper Juelg.
Firefighter Chris Medolla opened the evening by leading the audience in the national anthem and Wright and Miss Avalon Francesca Trimble provided special performances.
“They were so happy to come back to the Music Pier,” Becker said of Wright and Trimble, “especially Franny, who did her wheel performance.” Trimble did an acrobatic routine on a big circular metal frame.
“For Kylie, this is actually the last time she’ll perform (her talent) before going to Miss America,” Becker said of Wright’s martial arts performance. Wright is a black belt. “It was a really good opportunity for her to practice it on a real stage, but they love being back here and supporting the pageants here,” Becker said.
Awards
In the Little Miss competition, Brooke Barone was first runner-up, Sophia Nammour was second runner-up and Sadie Hance was the third runner-up. Barone won the interview and formal wear awards and Knuth won the boat wear award. Taegan Vivarelli won Miss Congeniality.
Other Little Miss contestants included Cosette Stanton, Sadie Snowden and Adeline Batenic.
In the Junior Miss competition, Ellie Canale was third runner-up, Rose Bickings was second runner-up and Waverly Anna Dunn was first runner-up. Kaycee Knuth won Miss Congeniality; McManus won the interview and evening gown awards, Dunn won the on-stage question. Other Junior Miss contestants included Alexa Rosetti, Riley Bongionvanni, Ava Walker, Ashlynn Ruskowski and Randy Scarborough.
There were no residency requirements for these pageants, unlike some of the others held by Ocean City, no talent competition and no need for fundraising, which determines the winner in the Miss NIV pageant. The Little Miss contestants were 8 to 11 years old and the Junior Miss 12 to 15.
As Becker explained before the pageants, “Anybody who loves Ocean City and visits Ocean City can do it. There are kids who may want to do things like this but they’re not taking dance or singing. We wanted to be a little more open to everybody.”
– STORY and PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
