Queen contest planned for 2007 Relay for Life event

A group of area junior and senior high school girls from Bourbon County will compete next summer for the honor of becoming the first-ever Bourbon County Relay for Life queen.

The week before the organization's all-night relay walk, scheduled for June 15 and 16, the Bourbon County Relay for Life steering committee has planned a local queen contest that will be open to young girls in the 6th through 12th grades.

Committee members recently mailed out newsletters and applications throughout Bourbon County in an effort to recruit contestants for the recently-added contest, part of a series of events leading up to the relay itself, committee member Wendy Budd said.

Applications can also be picked up at Fort Scott Middle School and Fort Scott High School, and will be available at Fort Scott Christian Heights and Uniontown Junior Senior High School in the near future, she said.

Participants will be asked to fill out applications and to write short essays explaining reasons why they would like to be chosen Relay for Life queen. The deadline for submitting applications and essays is Nov. 21, Budd said.

The actual date the queen contest crowning ceremony will be conducted has not yet been chosen, but it will most likely happen the week before the all-night relay walk that is set for 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. June 15 and 16 at Frary Field near FSHS. The event is one of the top annual fund raisers for Relay for Life organizations across the country that raise money for the American Cancer Society.

The theme for the local organization's 2007 campaign is "Ropin' for a Cure" and will follow a traditional western theme.

It is not a requirement for queen contestants to have a family member who is stricken with the deadly disease or who has died from cancer, Budd said.

"They do not have to be touched by cancer at all," she said.

After all applications and essays have been reviewed, the top 15 contestants will be selected, with a winner being crowned during the final ceremony. The Bourbon County Relay for Life kick-off event is scheduled for Jan. 25, with the group's annual cancer survivor dinner taking place sometime in June in Fort Scott, Budd said.

For more information about the queen contest or other Relay for Life team events, contact Budd at (620) 223-4912.