The Miss USA program, owned by Donald Trump, attracted 8 million viewers in April. Traditional competitions are flailing helplessly behind more sensational contests such as Miss USA, which teamed up with 'Fear Factor' this year to show bikini-wearing contestants covered in 55-gallon drums of live worms and fish oil. The 84-year-old show, which had 85 million viewers in 1985, will air this year on cable's Country Music Television. Miss America, perhaps the nation's most successful pageant, was dropped by ABC last year after its television audience fell below 10 million. Enough is enough.America's Junior Miss is not the only distressed pageant. 'I just decided' to eliminate swimsuits, she said. She assisted in the Miss Antioch competition for seven years before taking the lead this year. Galster has been competing in pageants since she was 9 and has participated in many contests, including representing Arlington Heights in the Miss Illinois Pageant in 1975 and Wonder Lake in the Mrs. Responses to the Antioch action have been positive, Galster said, including from former Miss Antiochs. Rather than five young women wearing dresses and waving from a float in the Septemberfest parade on Labor Day, there will be five young men and women marching the route in their Septemberfest Court golf shirts.

Organizers said the change was made to alleviate any perception the event was more pageant than scholarship program. Last month, organizers of the Miss Septemberfest scholarship competition in Schaumburg announced the decades-old event will change to a Septemberfest Court open to young men and women and boasting five equal winners this year. There is no overreaching authority for the local pageants, which operate independently, so it is unknown how many have gone to athletic wear, according to Galster.Īntioch is not alone in making pageant changes. Girls and young women compete in local pageants for scholarships and the opportunity to represent their communities in a variety of events. 'I want their minds, I want their personalities.' 'A lot of these girls feel so awkward,' Galster said. She said the perception is swimsuits can emphasize physical flaws, which shouldn't be part of the competition.

Like other local competitions, Miss Antioch is a feeder to the Miss Lake County State Pageant, which does not have a bathing suit competition, Galster said. 'Ladies, if you have been thinking about competing in this year's pageant but the swim suit portion of the pageant scares you, do not worry, we have taken it out of our pageant and replaced it with athletic wear,' the Facebook post read. Advertising for applicants for the June 16 pageant was direct.

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