1991 was the final year of the Miss PNE Pageant before reformatting to the PNE Youth Ambassador Program, welcoming individuals regardless of gender to compete to be recognized for their social involvement and encourage political participation. How did Abbotsford’s program change? It became the “Miss Abbotsford Youth Ambassador Pageant Society”, curiously amalgamating both titles.
In 1995 the pageant was preparing for a restructuring. Research unfortunately does not account for the three years without a Miss PNE program to feed into, but thanks to the list of winners we know it continued on.
The mission statement of the new Pageant Society was thus:
“To provide a high calibre youth program, focussing on personal development, extended education and training, and active year-round community involvement.”
Some of this, like year-round involvement, sounds quite like the original pageant. On the other hand, there were records of the proposed revamp of the program that detail just how it would change. The development of the mission statement was to ensure the organization knew exactly what they wanted to provide for participants and ensure every participant had the same chance of winning.
Debriefing notes from the 1994 pageant look to reinforcing the foundation of the pageant, recommending more committee involvement in the training of the participants, and the forming of a core committee to create a stronger schedule of events during the year.[1] These notes were suggestions from a pageant organizer, the last two being: attentions need to be focused locally and emphasize visibility at a local event once a month at a minimum, and considering a change to “Abbotsford Ambassador”, implying boy/girl participation.[2]
The first change is a strong idea, more community involvement would bring attention to the organization, but also help the reigning queen serve as a community role-model. On the other hand, the second change would bring about the end of the pageant; considering the PNE’s recent change, it’s possible the writing was on the wall.
1995’s pageant notes didn’t end there as Bob Fatkin, the pageant Master of Ceremonies and Training, had far more recommendations for improvement than positive aspects. In sum: the 1995 pageant was far too disorganized and left too much up to chance, leading to confusion on everyone’s end.[3] The pageant needed reinvigoration.
In December 1995, a letter was sent out to all participants in the 1996 pageant, detailing the events to come over the course of the year.
Training would include:
- The Toastmaster’s training program
- History of the Pageant and the community
- Political Structure
- Careers
- Safety
- Financial and Legal Responsibilities
- Etiquette
- Make-Up
- Poise and Posture
- Scholarships and Bursaries
- A Presentation from the Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce
Along with this training was a paragraph outlining the goals of the pageant for this year. The citation is important to the direction of the pageant:
“It is the pageant committees desire to recognize all of the contestants as winners and to involve them in community events after the pageant is over. We feel all of these ladies presently have, and will have, a profound amount to offer our community and we would like to make sure they have that opportunity.”[4]
This section of the letter is relevant due to what we can learn from it. The organization was confident that their new program would benefit all of the participants, and the training would equip them with skills useful in, presumably, adult life. Although this was still a competition, the goal was to raise up everyone involved, not just one individual.
The training would begin in January of 1996, happening every Monday until the Pageant would take place on April 27th.[5] Unfortunately, gaps begin to appear after this point due to a lack of resources. We unfortunately do not know who won the pageant in 1996, although we do have a list of all the participants:
Unfortunately, the search to who won this year was without an answer. The closest possibility can be found in the list of post-pageant obligations, a lengthy list full of community events for the participants to attend. At the Bradner May Day Parade, it is mentioned that all participants were to attend and participate in the parade, but Sheila Evani was meant to bring greetings and congratulate the winner of the title of Bradner May Queen.[6] This specificity may imply that Sheila was the winner for 1996, but it cannot be said for certain.
According to the list, pageant participants were attending all sorts of events; parades, community festivals, other municipalities’ pageants, the Abbotsford International Airshow, the list goes on.[7] Community involvement was one of the goals of the revamped pageant, and they certainly succeeded.
Naturally, time came to prepare for the 1997 pageant, and research yielded a full schedule detailing the preparation process.
Extensive training by any means, with plenty of social time, speech training, and involvement with different community organizations. What could not be found was: who participated, and if there was another pageant the following year. On the other hand, I was able to discover that Tiffany Poirier was the winner of the pageant through her YouTube channel: she had uploaded videos of her speech, and the moment she was crowned.
Tiffany would later go on to become not only an elementary school teacher, but a lengthy list of credentials including: a BA in Philosophy at UVIC, a BEd in Elementary Education at UBC, a MEd in Educational Leadership at UBC, and would later receive the Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching Excellence. Though we cannot attribute all of her success to the Youth Ambassador training, it can be reasoned that all of preparation helped her success in the pageant and effectively prepared her for her future.
It may be safe to assume the Miss Abbotsford Pageant concluded here, but it went out on a strong note, attempting to breathe new life into an event that sorely needed it. It is also a shame that it ended on a quiet note, no research could provide context to the lack of information after 1997, though the Miss BC Pageant has continued up to 2019, with the winner of Miss Fraser Valley being Nicole H. from Langley.
Nevertheless, the history of the Miss Abbotsford Pageant is a rich one, with participants that would go on to do great things with their lives, and organizers that would give countless hours into making all this happen. To quote the thought that ran through my head frequently while doing research for this assignment: “Good for her.”
[1] The Reach Gallery and Archives. Abbotsford, BC.
[2] The Reach Gallery and Archives. Abbotsford, BC.
[3] The Reach Gallery and Archives. Abbotsford, BC.
[4] The Reach Gallery and Archives. Abbotsford, BC.
[5] The Reach Gallery and Archives. Abbotsford, BC.
[6] The Reach Gallery and Archives. Abbotsford, BC.
[7] The Reach Gallery and Archives. Abbotsford, BC.