Schaumburg’s annual September festival starts Sept. 3, and the folks running the Miss Septemberfest competition are worried about the lack of applicants.
With the application deadline of Aug. 21 nearing, only eight teens have registered, said Cara Bromund, the Miss Septemberfest chair and a 1993 competitor. Normally, it’s at least twice that, she said.
Perhaps hurting the turnout, she said, is the perception that it’s a beauty pageant.
“We don’t have a bathing suit competition, but we still have to fight the pageant stereotype,” she said. Intelligence, poise and community involvement are what matters, she said.
“That’s what makes this better than other pageants,” said Mallory Scholpp, 18, Miss Septemberfest 2002 and a student of social work at Harper College. “Beauty is not among the judges’ criteria.”
Applicants must be between 16 and 19 and never married. Entry forms are available at the Prairie Center for the Arts office, 201 Schaumburg Ct.
