Twenty-nine of Northern Ontario’s “most promising young ladies,” between ages 16 to 22, will be in Sudbury this weekend to compete for their chance
to be Miss Northern Ontario. The Miss Northern Ontario Regional Canada Pageant kicked off last night at Laurentian University’s Fraser Auditorium with the preliminary and talent competition. At the event there will be a “wide variety of local talent, public speaking, fashion shows and evening gowns,” Cheryl Kozera, president of the event for the last four years, said. The pageant focus this year is on, “beauties with a purpose.” “Miss Northern Ontario is not a beauty pageant,” Kozera said. “People perceive it as a beauty pageant, but these are young ladies, while they indeed are beautiful on the inside and out, they have a purpose. They support local charities.” Northern Ontario Families of Children with Cancer is the charity of choice for this year’s pageant. “Each of the girls has been fundraising within their communities, to make a group donation to that,” Kozera said.
An event like this also brings in valuable tourism dollars, she said.