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It is more prestigious than Miss Belize, more popular than Reina de la Costa Maya, and more historic than Miss Y. By now you’ve probably guessed that we’re talking about the Queen of the Bay. The 64th Queen of the Bay will be chosen on Saturday and 10 candidates want to wear the crown. We met them today.

Keith Swift Reporting,
We met the ten candidates posing with Mayor Zenaida Moya in City Hall this morning, each taking pictures and hoping that they’ll be the one to take away the crown from 2008’s Queen Karima Card.

Francine Francis, Miss Belmopan
“I decided to enter the pageant because I feel it is a way to be patriotic and to give back to my community in a positive way. I feel that being a part of this is historic and I would love to do it.”

Keith Swift,
“Why Queen of the Bay, why not Miss Belize or Costa Maya?”

Millie Pulido, Queen of the West
“Because I believe that Queen of the Bay has a prestige to its name and it is a symbol of our history and that’s why.”

Keith Swift,
“Do you feel you’re prepared?”

Millie Pulido,
“I am working on it but I will be.”

Melanie Codd, Miss Orange Walk
“I believe that by being the Queen of the Bay I can continue being a role model to young girls and also the Queen of the Bay represents the emblem of freedom and I would like to be that.”

Zeripha Arnold, Belizean Heritage
“I want to do a lot of things for my country and I see this as a stepping stone to start helping my country.”

Deshawn Gamboa, Miss Flower’s Bank
“I chose to enter Queen of the Bay because it is a prestigious pageant and I believe that it is a good thing to do, represent Belize in all the way you can.”

Keith Swift,
“Why do you want to be the Queen of the Bay?”

Kiasha Bevans, Miss Jane Usher Blvd.
“Because it is a new challenge and it is unlike any other pageant I’ve been in. The rest that I was in, they were like more of beauty pageants. This is more graceful and prestigious so it is a new challenge for me and I think I am going to accomplish a lot entering this. I feel more than prepared, 110%.”

Keith Swift,
“I’m asking all the girls if they’ve learnt to do the curtsy, you think you’ve learnt it yet?”

Reena Usher, Miss Stann Creek
“Well I think I have and I think I will be able to do it without falling over or something like that.”

Keith Swift,
“What would it mean to you to win this pageant?”

Tracey Jacobs, Miss Teen Toledo
“It will mean a lot because my decision is if I win this challenge I want to make a difference in Belize today and as Mr. Willoughby said about the garbage, I think we need a proper garbage site.”

Keith Swift,
“But you think a queen could really change stuff like that?”

Tracey Jacobs,
“Well we have rights and we could talk to the Prime Minister of course. We could ask the Prime Minister to do something about it.”

Daniella Woolley, Miss Esperanza
“Being a queen, you need to be a queen, anybody can help if you are willing to go out there to help your country.”

Organizer Emma Boiton says candidates should want to be Queen of the Bay because after 63 years – this pageant still matters.

Emma Boiton, Organizer
“The queen personifies our because she must be strong like a mahogany tree and she must be unbreakable like the pine tree. But that is only showing what we are in our love for Belize, in our commitment to Belize and that is why it is important to keep up the tradition.”

And the woman who kept up the tradition for the last 12 months was the 63rd queen, Karima Card.

Karima Card, 63rd Queen of the Baby
“It was a wonderful year. I really enjoyed all the responsibilities. It was fun working with certain organizations. I did some work with YES and UNFPA that was really interesting and I found the Belizean people to be quite supportive. So I really did have a wonderful year.”

The pageant is set for Saturday starting at 7 pm. Entrance is $10 for general, $15 for reserved and $5 for children. We should note that the reigning queen Karima Card won a scholarship last year and she is presently pursuing a degree in primary education. An obscure piece of pageant trivia is that under the rules of the pageant and though it has never been done – the reigning queen can veto the judge’s nominee for queen.