By Breven Honda
Beauty pageants are not only for youth wanting to dream big like Cinderella. 
In Mesquite, there is a beauty pageant for seniors to continue to have those visions like Cinderella or any another princesses, such as Belle, Jasmine or Rapunzel.
“It’s wonderful to have something that highlights our beautiful senior women,” said Becky Boyd, who is the administrator for the Ms. Senior Mesquite Pageant. “The senior women of today are so different than our moms or grandmas, who were stay at home moms, mostly. Now, we have women who, even in their 60s and older, own businesses. They’re out playing tennis. We do pickleball.
“We’re not just retired people sitting around waiting to die.”
On April 19, the Ms. Senior Mesquite Pageant will take place at Virgin Valley High School beginning at 4 p.m.
“We have five fabulous ladies who have such great talent,” Boyd said. “Everybody’s going to be in awe. It’s going to be an event not to miss.
“The exciting thing about our pageant is last year was the first one that we have had since 2019, so it’s so nice to have the pageant back.”
The beauty behind the pageants is that every participant has a story, some even as impactful as their involvement in the community.
Boyd said last year’s top two pageant participants have made their commitments and efforts into the Mesquite area.
“Our communities are so blessed by having these women that are out there doing things because they have self-worth and they have confidence,” she said. “Bronzie Daphne, who was the queen last year, is playing her piano and singing at events and at the care centers. Karen Alvear, who was the first runner up, is now helping with the veterans. She’s learned Sign and does signing at a lot of events.
“So, the pageant is not just for ladies to strut around in evening gowns. It helps them come out of their shells and become a bigger and better part of our community.”
Boyd added that last year’s pageant was meaningful, not only because it was the first one in five years, but the impact that people like Daphne and Alvear have had.
“That’s what’s been so touching for me to be involved with this, is to watch these ladies come in and they’re very timid and shy,” she said. “‘Well, I don’t have any talent,’ and we work with them and find their talent, and they’re like butterflies.”
On Wednesdays leading up until the pageants, there are weekly workshops at the Virgin Valley Arts Center to build up the potential pageant contestants and those who may be interested.
In addition to winning last year’s pageant, Daphne also went on to earn Ms. Nevada honors as a result of Mesquite holding the only pageant in Nevada. Daphne then went to the Ms. Senior America Pageant in Atlantic City, N.J.
That path for the winner will continue in this year’s pageant this month.
The planning has been under way for months as Boyd and her committee cannot wait for the event to commence.
“We’re going to have such great talent,” she said. “We have people entertaining you while the ladies have to change their outfits, and it’s amazing to me. People don’t realize how much work something like that takes, especially behind the scenes. We have this fabulous gentleman, who helps the ladies who say, ‘I don’t have a talent.’ He finds amazing talent just by talking to them and then grooms them.”
It is expected to be a fun and “elegant” event as a new pageant winner will be announced later this month.
“These ladies are so elegant, not only because they’re beautiful, but they have wisdom and talent and knowledge and poise, and they have so much to give to us,” she said.
