MOUNT VERNON — An elegant evening of Ohio Junior Miss festivities took place at the Memorial Theater on Friday.
Dana Ullom-Vucelich was the program’s emcee. She introduced the 2006 Ohio Junior Miss, Barbara Jo Bednarczuk, who showed off her considerable vocal talent in a dance number with the 22 contestants. One by one, each went to the microphone and introduced herself.
Ullom-Vicelich introduced the six judges, then the blue group performed an impressive fitness routine, which counts as 15 percent of the overall score. The red group performed their talent routines, which count as 25 percent of the score.
During the intermission, long-time Junior Miss volunteer Roselyn Berry acknowledged the difficulty the judges would face in choosing among the impressive talent.
“I wouldn’t want to be judging this,” she said. “I’ve been coming to this for years and I think this is the best I’ve ever seen.”
For the Self-Expression portion of the program, the blue group performed a poise routine, then answered a question they received only moments before. The questions included, “What do you consider to be your greatest freedom?” and “Should parents have the right to subject their children to random drug testing?”
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While the contestants dressed for their final number, Ullom-Vicelich told the audience, “Ohio has won many awards at America’s Junior Miss, and it’s because of Knox County and Mount Vernon. Thank you to all of you.”
Presentation of the preliminary awards was made with all the girls on stage, clad in evening gowns. Service Above Self Leadership Award runner-ups were Danielle Davis of Marion County and Lyndsey Eilbacher of Greater Knox County. The overall Service Above Self Leadership Award went to Ashleigh Grund of Western Richland County.
Ullom-Vicelich told the audience, “We lost a great lady and friend of Junior Miss last year ... Helen Zelkowitz,” and told how Zelkowitz had founded the Stephen Zelkowitz Communication Award in honor of her son’s memory.
The Stephen Zelkowitz Communication Award winner was Callie Crum of Western Morrow County.
Be Your Best Self awards, based on essays and speeches, went to Caitlin Brown of Eastern Morrow County and Lyndsie Bobb of Vinton County, with the overall award to Meggy Wittman of Cuyahoga County.
The Junior Miss Spirit Award went to Danielle Davis of Marion County.
The traditional Friday Night Fun Finale began with the host dads Ullom-Vicelich termed “the world famous dancing do-dads,” dancing to “A Chorus Line.” They wore black top hats and bow-ties and carried black canes. They struggled a bit with their routine, and were saved by the arrival of the contestants, clad as high-fashion models and dancing expertly. They wore slinky black-velvet pants and were accessorized with all manner of colorful jewelry, boas, high heels and dark glasses.
Mount Vernon News photographer Virgil Shipley, also the official photographer of OJM, got up on stage to shoot the “models,” making it look like a real fashion show runway. Bednarczuk sang and wove among the contestants until the end of the number, when she took Shipley by the hand and led him into the middle of the cluster of girls.
The music stopped and Shipley looked confused, but soon became enlightened by congratulations for his 80th birthday on Saturday and his 39th year as OJM photographer. The crowd rose to its feet in a standing ovation.
As the applause and music faded away, a small voice was heard from the balcony, shouting, “Hey, Grandpa!” The crowd roared with laughter.
Mayor Richard Mavis read letters from former Junior Misses, written in tribute to Shipley, then presented him with a “memory box” full of letters, cards and mementos compiled by Connie Jannot, OJM volunteer.
“As representative of the community of Mount Vernon, I have an official key for you to the city of Mount Vernon, Ohio, on the 80th birthday and 39 years of excellent coverage of Ohio Junior Miss and 52 years of a pictorial chronology of our community,” said Mavis.
Shipley, his daughter, Phyllis Meeks, and his grandchildren, Kaleigh, age 7, and Garrett, age 5, went backstage for family pictures. Ever the professional, Shipley firmly refused to pose until he had photographed the preliminary award winners.
“Would you believe Virgil practiced with us all week [on the finale] and he was clueless?” said program director Mary Jane Bednarczuk.
The Saturday finale begins 7 p.m. in the Memorial Theater.
