Ten vie for Miss Westmoreland Festival Queen title
WESTERN BUREAU:
Under the distinguished patronage of businessman Dennis Hawthorn of Dennis Shipping, a new Festival Queen will be crowned in Westmoreland on Father’s Day, June 18, from a field of 10 young, able, deferential and artistic women.
The contestants—who range in age from 18 to 25 years —were sashed by their respective sponsors at the Coco La Palm Hotel In Negril recently, to begin what is being described as a monumental challenge for the Miss Jamaica Festival Queen Contest.
They include Sherona Small (Miss Demma’s Catering Company), Daniea Ackbersingh (Miss Chandon Distributors Limited), Anna-Kay Beckford (Miss Devmar Solar Energy), Olivia Campbell (Miss Bridges Jerk Centre and Seafood), Deborah Dawes (Miss Alexdel Limited), Kimoy Smith (Miss Infinity Dreams Liquor Palace), Arrian Patman (Miss Royal Pharmacy), Alecia Shippy (Miss Preston Demetrius), Shadae Dillion (Dennis Shipping Jamaica Limited), and Keziah Smith (Miss C&WJ Co-operative Credit Union).
In a Gleaner interview, Le Chone Redwood, the outgoing Miss Westmoreland Festival Queen, said the contenders are quite confident, and whoever takes home the crown - in what is also expected to be a glittering affair at the Sean Lavery Faith Hall in Savanna La Mar - will go on to win the Miss Jamaica Festival Queen title for 2023.
Redwood, the 2022 Miss Jamaica Festival Queen and second runner-up in the national competition, predicts that Miss Westmoreland will win the national title this year. “They are exceptionally bold, powerful and poised contenders,” she said.
The former parish Festival Queen says while she has already seen the person to whom she will hand over her crown, she is unable to publicly express her prediction, given her role with the parish cultural committee.
Chairman of the Westmoreland Cultural Development Committee, Jermaine Williams, was equally confident that the parish would take the Festival Queen title, as it did in 2008.
He says that any one of Westmoreland’s 10 contenders in this year’s competition is capable of taking home the national crown.
“I looked into my crystal ball, and I believe Westmoreland will produce our 2023 Jamaica Festival Queen,” Williams said.