By Liz Funk
ALTAMONT — A lot of judging goes on at the Altamont Fair: judging cattle, judging pies, and — judging women"
Billed as an "Altamont Fair Tradition," the Miss Altamont Fair Pageant went on Tuesday at the Altamont fairgrounds for the second year in a row, after a four-year hiatus from the pageant’s 20-some-odd years of history.
Pageant Director Larry Fronk, who took the initiative two years ago to try and restart the pageant, explained, "people were asking about it," after the former director moved out of town, ending the pageant.

Although forced to contend with the noise of the pig races about 50 feet away, this year’s pageant had more entrants than last year, and a sizable crowd to watch the competition.

The scoring in the Miss Altamont Fair pageant was composed of two major parts. First, an interview took place this past Sunday, during which contestants were asked questions about their ambitions, activities, and friends, among others. This counted for 60 percent of the final score.
The actual pageant proceedings, for the remainder of the score, were comprised of a "sportswear" competition, where contestants wore their on-the-go clothes; an evening gown competition; and a one-question interview.
Fronk described the ideal winner of the pageant as "one who could best represent the fair" the kind of girl who could greet the people, and go right to being with the cows."
He explained that, last year, the fair had a "picture perfect" contestant who entered the pageant, but judges felt that she couldn’t represent all aspects of the fair. The beauty queen’s duties involve participating in the Memorial Day Parade, and being present at other various community functions.
Last year’s winner, Jessamie O’Brien, a Hudson Valley Community College student, felt that honesty was an important quality in a winner. She made a face, imitating a conceited woman at "some of the other pageants."
"It’s not like that at all here!" she laughed.

Last year’s Junior Miss winner, Corrin Schultz, a rising senior at Clayton A. Bouton High School, detailed the camaraderie she felt between last year’s contestants.
"I still talk to a lot of them on-line," she said.

Many winners

The pageant was subdivided between categories for different age groups, with some of the girls young enough to need their mothers to help them dress between sections of the pageant, and others old enough to be in college and maintain nine-to-five jobs.

The winner of the Little Miss Altamont Fair Pageant, a sector of the event for especially little girls, was six-year-old Elena Nino, who giggled over Scooby Doo, her favorite television show, in her interview.
Winning the Young Miss Altamont Fair pageant, for school-aged girls, was Eden Becker, who pranced around the stage with a remarkable amount of poise for an eight-year-old during the "Party Dress" portion of the pageant.

And the winner of the Junior Miss Altamont Fair Pageant was Sabrina June, who teared up when embracing her mother after she found out she had won.
Twenty-year-old Elizabeth Mosall, the winner of the Miss Altamont Fair pageant, comported herself in a quintessentially beauty-pageant-winner fashion, looking shocked and cupping her hands over her mouth on learning that she had won. Describing herself as "plus size," she explained that she didn’t expect to win the pageant, considering that she didn’t fall into the paradigm of a typical beauty queen.
Ironically enough, she was inspired to enter the pageant after watching the F.A.T. Pageant on the Style Channel (an acronym for "Fabulous and Thick"). A graduate of Guilderland High School, and current drama major at the State University of New York at Potsdam, she said, "My sister and I entered together for some sisterly bonding."
She explained that she felt the climate for beauty pageants was changing. "I think it’s opening up to more women. I mean, the average dress size for a woman in this country is 14; I think pageantry is starting to reflect that."

And the winner of the Ms. Altamont Fair Pageant (a new category for women over the age of 22) was Shannah Ernst, an aspiring probation officer. For her on-stage interview, she detailed the time she had pepper spray spritzed in her face, as part of training for her job in law enforcement.

This year’s pageant was sponsored by A Touch of Country Florist, Carol Donato Photography, Hoffman’s Playland, Beaux Visage Day Spa, Delmonico’s Steakhouse, and Wal-Mart.