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SALT LAKE CITY — An official with this week's Miss Utah pageant competition is looking forward to celebrating some of the pageant's longtime traditions for the last time.
"It’s our final Miss Utah pageant with a swimsuit competition and with an evening wear competition run the way it currently does. … For us, it’s kind of a celebration of where our history has come from since 1921. … We’re excited to just celebrate that," said Whitney Thomas, Miss Utah 2009 and communications director for the competition.
In a move to make the contest more inclusive and in keeping up with the #MeToo movement, Miss America officials announced last week that physical appearance will no longer factor into candidates' scores and the women who compete can now keep their swimsuits in their suitcases in the fall.
The Utah pageant, which starts Wednesday, has always included a swimsuit part of the competition, Thomas said, though that part of the contest has gone through changes over the years on state and local levels.
Some local pageants hold the swimsuit portion only in front of judges, while some hold it in front of audiences, she said.
Organizers on the state and local levels don't yet know what the competition will look like in the future, Thomas said, adding that they will be given directions from Miss America officials after the Miss Utah pageant.
Fifty-four women will compete during the competition, which will take place Wednesday through Saturday at the Capitol Theater in Salt Lake City.
Thomas encourages Utahns who "love those areas" of the contest that are going away to attend the pageant and celebrate that history together.
Among those involved in Utah's pageant community, reactions to recent changes in the Miss America competition have been split, she said.
“Even just competitors, say young women that competed at Miss Utah last year and are returning this year, some are relieved while others are devastated," Thomas said.
Times have changed drastically, and the forward-thinking, bold women of today require a whole different format to challenge and reward them.
–Sharlene Wells Hawkes, Miss America 1985
The former Miss Utah said that when she competed, the thought of participating in the swimsuit portion of the competition "scared me away at first."
"I don’t think any young woman or woman is comfortable walking around in a swimsuit initially. And so I think that’s the hope, is that it will include more young women," she said.
However, for many, she said, “the lifestyle and fitness competition was very empowering to them."
JessiKate Riley, the current Miss Utah, agreed.
“I had mixed emotions. … I think that fitness is a really important aspect of the competition," she said.
The title-holder said she believes the organization should keep the fitness aspect, even if it's in another way.
Read more:
‘It was outdated’: Former Utah pageant contestants weigh in on end of swimsuit competition
Though Meganne Ferrel felt she was a good candidate for the position of Miss Utah in 2017, she was told it was impossible to win if she didn’t wear a bikini. Now, she's glad no girls will have to make the same decision she did.Riley said when she started competing, she too felt uncomfortable with the idea of the swimsuit portion of the contest. However, it helped her develop into a more strong, confident and healthy person, she said.
But she believes the former Miss Americas who decided to make the changes "have the organization's best interests at heart."
“While I may not understand it right this second, I do support (the organization) in this decision," she said. "I think that it’ll be much better for the organization. We’ll have a lot more diverse girls."
Thomas echoed Riley's statements.
"We are really excited and hopeful that what we think will happen will happen," she said.
Sharlene Wells Hawkes, a former Miss America title-holder from Utah, was involved in the decision to change the competition's format.
In an op-ed for the Deseret News, she wrote: "Times have changed drastically, and the forward-thinking, bold women of today require a whole different format to challenge and reward them. It’s unfortunate that it has taken so long to get to this point, but sometimes it requires a shake-up to break down tradition."
