MONROE The Monroe Township Mother’s Club wants to give local children a chance to let their personalities shine at its 19th annual Country Fair.
By: William Greenwood
MONROE The Monroe Township Mother’s Club wants to give local children a chance to let their personalities shine at its 19th annual Country Fair.
The club will hold three pageants at the fair, which will be held Sept. 9 from noon to 6 p.m. in Thompson Park. They include Little Miss Monroe and Town Squire, both open to preschoolers between the ages of 2 and 5, and the Baby Buggy contest, open to children up to 2 years old.
However, those competitions won’t be about looks alone, said Marguerite Dafoe, the fair’s chairwoman and vice president for fundraising for the club.
"I don’t feel it’s really a beauty contest," she said. "I think it’s more about personality."
During the Little Miss Monroe and Town Squire pageants, the fair’s master of ceremonies, DJ Wacky Wayne Junior, will ask participants a series of questions they will need to answer on a stage that will be set up in the park. Ms. Dafoe said the contestants are judged on their ability to answer the questions and be sociable.
"We had one little boy who was very, very talkative one year, and I did get a big kick out of him," she said. "He wanted to tell us his life history. Needless to say he won that year."
In the Baby Buggy competition, small children in carriages are lined up in front of the stage to be judged. Ms. Dafoe said many mothers decorate the carriages and dress up their babies for the competition.
"They’re not talking or anything," she said. "People just judge them on their smiling and socialization, that sort of thing."
The winner of each competition is given a crown and a trophy, and two runners-up also receive a smaller trophy. The judges will be chosen on the day of the fair and will be picked from among the fair’s vendors.
"It’s very objective because they don’t know the children," she said.
Those who wish to enter the pageant can sign up at the Mother’s Club table on the day of the fair, Ms. Dafoe said. Registration is free, and the pageants will be free to watch at the fair.
The fair also will feature a number of games for children, a horse-and-wagon ride, performances from band Dusty Daze and DJ Wacky Wayne Junior, 50-50 and basket raffles, a petting zoo and pony rides.

