Local queens head to Columbia for pageants

The Loris Chamber of Commerce holds the Miss Bog-Off pageant in September each year to promote the October event and to select the Miss Loris Bog-Off Festival Queen and Teen who work throughout the year preparing for the Miss South Carolina Pageant that is held in June each year.

This week Ragan Dennis, Miss Loris Bog-Off Festival Queen, and Sarah Carroll, Miss Loris Bog-Off Festival Teen, headed to Columbia to compete in the two pageants that began on Tuesday, June 25, at the Township Auditorium.  The preliminary competitions will be held each night through Thursday, June 27, when the 2019 Miss Teen South Carolina will be crowned.  On Friday and Saturday, June 28 and 29, Miss South Carolina competition begins with crowning the queen on Saturday.

Campbell is competing in the Miss South Carolina Teen pageant with her beauty and talented voice.  If she is crowned she will serve as a state preliminary to Miss America’s Outstanding Teen.

This is not the first time that Dennis has competed in Columbia. Last year at the age of 18 she vied for the crown of Miss SC Teen.  This year she is eligible to compete in the Miss South Carolina Pageant. She said, “I am going to tap dance to Michael Jackson’s song, “Come Together.”  She stated the week is filled with hard work and dedication.  Dennis said, “My best part of the competition is, and the reason I am doing it again, is because of the girls as everyone is so empowering and we come together genuinely. Everyone has the same passion and wants to help each other.”  She said she learned from her experience of competing last year to be confident in herself and stand true to who she is.  She said, “I felt last year when I competed I was over thinking and second guessing myself.” She continued, “The judges want to see who you are and see that you stand true to your values and your morals and how you feel on things, and if you are prepared and ready to hold the catalyst of South Carolina.”  She said she learned to be herself. She does not necessarily put on a façade because she wants to look the part of what the judges want to see. She said, “I need to be myself because that is what the judges want.”  Dennis feels she is better prepared for the competition in Columbia and is excited to be a part of the camaraderie with the other contestants.

Samantha Norris remains behind the scenes at the pageant. She does not take the credit for all the work she puts into the competition each September.  She works with the Miss Loris Bog-Off winners throughout the year presenting them at events and promotes their platforms and she helps them to prepare for the June pageant.  Norris, Jennifer Boyd-Causey, Ezizze Davis-Foxworthy and Wendy Baruch have formed a committee to spend time with both Dennis and Carroll to help them prepare for what is expected at the competition.

  One part of the training is helping the young ladies to present themselves with confidence, especially when responding to mock questions the judges might ask.  Dennis stated that her goal is to help empower women to feel confident in themselves to know that they are beautiful by opening a clothing store after she earns her business degree.

Dennis says that she has a great support system, not only with the chamber and the pageant committee, her mother and father, Vickie and Wayne Dennis, and her grandparents, Peggy and Jimmy Dennis, who will be traveling to Columbia to attend the pageant.

The pageant will be streamlined for a fee; however, WACH Fox Facebook page has information how to watch through their online services.

Norris, Causey, Dennis and Carroll will return to Loris with news of their experience and announce their standing in the pageant.  We wish them all the best.

Left to right are Samantha Norris, Ezizze Davis Foxworthy, Ragan Dennis, Jennifer Boyd-Causey and Wendy Baruch. They formed a committee to assist Dennis and Sarah Carroll to prepare for the Miss South Carolina and Miss South Carolina Teen pageants being presented this week in Columbia.