Loose Leaf Notes

Miss Floyd County Fair 2021, Meriden Roberts, was a semi-finalist at the Miss Virginia Association of Fairs Scholarship Pageant in Williamsburg on January 8. Roberts, a Galax native who studies Human Nutrition, Foods and Exercise at Virginia Tech, placed in the top eleven of twenty-three contestants and was also the recipient of the pageant’s Photogenic Award.

The Miss Floyd County Fair Pageant has been hosted at  the Floyd Family Campground (formerly Chantilly Farm) since 2016 as an offshoot of the Floyd Livestock and County Fair and an official preliminary to the annual Miss VAF Pageant. Title winners of both the Floyd pageant and the statewide pageant are chosen by a panel of judges based on contestant interviews, submitted essays, general presentation (gowns are involved) and a 30-second platform speech highlighting their community focus. Winners receive scholarship prize money.

The purpose of the Floyd pageant, stated on the pageant’s Facebook page, is to build a variety of strengths in each participant and highlight good. “Community service is always a component of the participants’ platforms,” said Dee Dannewitz Wallace, who directs the local pageant, along with past Miss Floyd County Fair winners Kelsi Sapp Miller and JoAnna Faye Wilson.

Twenty-year-old Roberts called her platform “Bent but not Broken,” a reference to her challenges dealing with scoliosis, a sideways curvature of the spine. “When I was 14, I was diagnosed with scoliosis,” Roberts said. “It affected my shoulders, my hips and ribs and how I looked. I went through battles with my body. I was pretty self-conscious and beat myself up about it.”

Roberts, who competed at the VAF state pageant as Miss Carroll County Fair in 2019, wanted to use what she had learned through personal experience to encourage other young women in Virginia to practice “body positivity.”

In the summer of 2020 Roberts had surgery to correct her curved spine. With 7 pounds of metal put into her spine, she gained 3 inches in height. Her recovery was challenging but in the end the surgery was worth it. “I feel great now,” she said.

Following the state pageant, Roberts posted her congratulations on Facebook to Miss VAF title winner Torie Shifflett of Franklin County, “Our new Miss VAF 2022 is so deserving and truly embodies what this organization is all about.” She spoke of all the incredible women she met and thanked supportive family and pageant directors, adding an extra shout-out to Floyd, “I hope I made you proud, Floyd County,” and one to her mom for “being my number one fan and pushing me to be the best version of myself.”

Speaking about her role as Miss County Fair 2021, Roberts said that being a good representative and a good role model were her most important goals. She made appearances at county parades and mingled with crowds at the Floyd Livestock and County Fair in September.

“It’s given me a lot of communication and inter-personal skills,” Roberts said about her participation in the pageants. She described how the pageant experiences have made her want to be a better person and role model going forward in life. “I have a county behind me, and I know there are little kids looking up to me.”

“She’s been a very humble person and very interested in the people of Floyd County,” said Wallace. “I felt she had a really good message. It’s unfortunate that (because of Covid) she wasn’t able to get around more in person to get that good message out.” Wallace reported that the 2020 pageants were cancelled. The 2021 Floyd pageant was conducted virtually, but the VAF state pageant was in person, although attendance was not that of pre-pandemic numbers.

Meetings are being scheduled to make plans for the Floyd County Fair Pageant 2022.  Miss Floyd County Fair 2018 and pageant co-director JoAnna Wilson suggested we all stay tuned. “The Miss Floyd County Fair pageant has grown tremendously over the past three years, and we are extremely proud of that. We hope to expand, bringing more girls in from the surrounding areas, to compete and see the beauty that Floyd county has to offer.” _____Colleen Redman