When Pryor senior Kennedy Fannin was crowned Miss Mayes County in March 2023, she was able to make something special happen in our community. One of the scholarships Fannin won in the pageant included $1,000 to be used as an outreach to the Pryor community.
Thanks to the donation by Patriot Chrysler Dodge Jeep RAM of Pryor, Fannin was able to address a community need she and her family had noticed.
As part of her preparation for the Miss Mayes County Scholarship Pageant, Fannin composed an essay response to Patriot’s prompt which asked how she would use the outreach funds. After talking it over with her family, Fannin’s choice was clear.
“There’s a need in our communities, in school with lunch money, and there are kids that don’t have the opportunity to pay off their lunch,” Fannin said, “When given the opportunity with that thousand dollars, I thought that would be very cool to try to pay off those kids, and it's not even something that necessarily we get to see but something that might just release some of that stress for some of those kids.”
Fannin decided to evenly distribute the funds between Pryor’s five school sites.
A heart for performing is what first drew Fannin to sign up for the pageant. Last year the pageant which had been held under the name of Miss Pryor was rebranded to Miss Mayes County fulfilling the dream of pageant director, Hannah Perry. “She always wanted to make it Miss Mayes County because it is more inclusive for the girls in Chouteau, Adair, Locust Grove, and Salina,” Fannin said.
Broadening the scope of the pageant, sponsored by the Pryor Creek Sertoma Club and the Pryor Creek Lions Club, allows more people to get involved and benefit from the scholarships and other learning opportunities offered in the competition.
Preparation for the pageant involves over two months of learning experiences, led by Pryor alumnae Perry and Seyton Thomas. The sessions include prep interview questions and last year, a mock interview with former Miss Oklahoma City Lauren Frost. Fanin described multiple practices--answering on-stage questions, walking in heels, walking in your dress, and performing talent routines.
“Not only does it build confidence for getting on stage, but it builds your self-confidence, and as a young lady in this community, you have to be able to talk to people, and you have to be ready for an interview. . . and we are completely prepared for that,” Fannin said.
Fannin will give her final performance as Miss Mayes County and crown her successor this Saturday, March 9, during the 2024 Miss Mayes County Pageant held at the Pryor AVRA Performing Arts Center, beginning at 6:30 pm. Get your tickets here.
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