The Manitoba Sunflower Festival will once again take over the town of Altona this July.

One of the main attractions at the summer celebration is the crowning of the festival’s Sunflower Queen, as well as the 1st and 2nd Princesses.

Adina Schellenberg was a contestant in the 1984 queen pageant, and now coordinates the event.

“Right now, we are in the midst of trying to get the contestants together. To date, we have five girls that are interested, and some are from last year, because they had no opportunity last year, and a few are from this year, so we're still trying to increase numbers. We've attempted to go to the high school to talk to the girls, but didn't have much success there. We are now going to reach out to some businesses to see if they can find girls interested in running in the pageant.”

Participation in the pageant has been affected by the smaller number of girls in the class of 2022, explains Schellenberg, and by the commitment required by the winners. The deadline to enter may be extended to find additional contestants.

“We've already been invited to a number of different activities that we need to get going on. Our speech prep and our fashion show, all these things are on hold right now until we see if we can get a couple more girls involved, and then we'll make the major decisions on the events we will be having after we've come to that conclusion.”

Schellenberg says, if the current number of participants remains unchanged, the pageant will go ahead as planned, based on the premise of ensuring a wonderful experience for every young woman taking part.

One of the biggest perks for the chosen queen and first princess is traveling to Australia to take in the local culture of Altona’s twin city of Emerald, including the Easter Sunflower Festival down under.

“I think it's something special that we have,” said Schellenberg. “Having been part of it, having traveled there and seeing how important this exchange is between the two communities, that itself makes it fulfilling, and makes me want to continue to do this. Their gratefulness of the connection that the two communities have [had] for so many years is something you won't find just anywhere.”

Young women up to the age of 21 are eligible to enter the pageant, with a focus on building friendships and personal growth.