2007 Miss E.L. Pageant is a no-go

By Natasha Clark

Assistant Managing Editor

EAST LONGMEADOW - The 2007 Miss East Longmeadow Scholarship Pageant will not go on as expected.

After weeks of unconfirmed rumors that the pageant has been canceled, East Longmeadow Jaycees member Maureen Basile confirmed to Reminder Publications that indeed it has been postponed.

Basile said several issues factored into the postponement of one of the town's most popular traditions and prelude to the Miss Massachusetts contest.

"Ultimately, the decision came down to the fact that the East Longmeadow Jaycees are committed to providing the town, the contestants and the Miss America pageant system with the best possible program we are able to produce," Basile said. "Unfortunately, a number of things preventing us from being able to do so.

"First of all, Miss America has drastically changed a portion of its program and we felt that our local contestants would not have enough time to fulfill the new demands of the program. Second, we have a nationally recognized program within the Miss America system," Basile continued. "Due to the resignation of key people within our program, we did not have the trained leadership in place to run the program in the time period desired. We also had a key role, the pageant program book coordinator, that we were unable to fill. We do not have anyone with the skills necessary to produce the graphics for the book. The program book is a source of great income to the pageant. You may not be aware of this, but the Miss East Longmeadow program grants the most scholarship monies of the local Miss America Pageants, in the state. It is also nationally recognized in the top 10 in the US. These are standards that have been built throughout the years, in large part due to the hard work and dedication of Bob Scagni. Without the program book, we are unable to live up to the standards we have set for our organization."

Basile also said the declining membership for the Jaycees played a role and that running so many projects with a limited amount of people is difficult.

She said, given all the issues, the Jaycees would not have been able to produce a "top rated show and we could not give our contestant the full attention they deserve."

"We were upset to have to postpone the event as we are committed to our traditional programs," Basile said. "We hope to be able to hold the pageant later this year, but we will not commit to holding it unless we are able to produce an event worthy of the Jaycee name."

Basile said the Jaycees are still working on other events and hope the public turns out to support those.

"Our focus at this time is the upcoming fishing derby and the Summer Carnival and Fireworks. Both events are extremely labor intensive and need 100 percent of our attention," Basile added. "Both events are well into the planning and we look forward to seeing everyone there."