High school senior Tayler Riggie, 18, has been crowned the Bay City St. Patrick’s Day Parade Queen.
Pageant participants were required to be residents of Bay County and to be of Irish descent.
Riggie, a high school senior, had never done a pageant before but decided to give this one a try with a chance to win a scholarship for college.
According to Riggie, the pageant doesn’t focus on the looks of participants like a beauty pageant; instead, it focuses on answers from participants.
“We weren’t competing against looks,” Riggie said. “It was based off most of our points from the judges from the interview.”
Having never done a pageant before, Riggie was nervous, even showing up late by accident to one of the practice days.
Despite being late, Riggie found that her nerves calmed down once she got to meet everyone.
“I instantly became friends with everyone,” Riggie said. “All of my worries went straight away. Everyone was so welcoming and so kind, even during the interviews.”
She recalled being surprised when she won, noting that some of the other participants had already been in the pageant before.
Now that the competition is over, Riggie noted that for the most part, she’s a lot calmer.
“I get noticed in public, and they’d be like, ‘Oh my goodness, you’re the queen,”’ Riggie said. “I still kind of feel dumbfounded. Like, ‘Wait, you’re right. I am.’”
Riggie will continue her Queen duties throughout the weekend including attending Cocoa with the Queens, where the public can meet her at First Look Bridal Boutique & Tuxedo in Bay City on Sunday at 11 a.m.
Following cocoa, Riggie will also be in the Bay City St. Patrick’s Day Parade which starts at 2 p.m. at the corner of Center and Park Avenues.
While Riggie won’t be participating in the Queen Pageant next year because she’ll be a freshman at Central Michigan University, she’s considering doing more pageants in her future.
“It all depends on if the opportunity comes up and how busy I am by then,” Riggie said.