Remember when the Rhododendron Pageant highlighted our area’s young women? Why for the last 5+ years has there been an obvious bias toward contestants that are from outside of WNC? This pageant use to be something our community looked forward to. A time when we could empower and showcase our talented young women. It seems to me the judges favor out of towners so they can promote OUR festival to out of towners. Don’t get me wrong, I love when people discover our area and come to appreciate all of it’s beauty. We are blessed to live in the most beautiful place on Earth! But when did the pageant organizers decide to show blatant favoritism to contestants who have never even stepped foot in our county prior to the pageant? I miss our hometown traditions being about our HOMETOWN.
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