Miss Westmoreland Festival Queen confident she’ll win national title

WESTERN BUREAU:

Arrian Patman, a 25-year-old with a bachelor’s degree in diagnostic imaging – radiography from The University of the West Indies, was crowned Miss Westmoreland Festival Queen 2023 on Sunday night.

The radiographer, who is sponsored by Royal Pharmacy, also won two sectional prizes, namely Most Active in Community and Most Culturally Aware.

Speaking with The Gleaner following her win, Patman expressed joy at being named Miss Westmoreland Festival Queen. She stated that she is prepared to fulfil both the duties of the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) Miss Westmoreland Festival Queen title and that of the JCDC National Festival Queen, a title she is confident she will win later this year.

Last year, Westmoreland produced the second runner-up to the Miss Jamaica Festival Queen in Le Chone Redwood, but Patman believes that she can go much higher this year and bring the title back home to the parish as Katrina Grant-D’Aguilar did in 2008.

“I will be number one, there is no doubt about that,” a confident Patman said immediately after being crowned at the Sean Lavery Faith Hall, which was filled to capacity on Sunday night.

“I will definitely represent my parish well,” she said, noting that the journey that led to her becoming the parish’s festival queen was an amazing experience working and mingling with the other contestants from across the parish.

Deborah Dawes, who is sponsored by Alexdel Limited is a registered nurse, was the first runner-up and won three sectional prizes — Most Popular on Social Media, Most Poised, and Most Congenial. Kelsia Ann Porter, a student at The Mico University College, who is sponsored by Bridgez Jerk and Rest Stop, won the sectional prize for Best Performer and was the second runner-up.

Patman will go on to compete in the Miss Jamaica Festival Queen Competition, which is one of the highlights of the Jamaica 61 celebrations.

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