Harris takes Indian Beauty Contest
Before the Westward Ho! Parade on Friday morning, crowds gathered to watch 18 young American Indian women competing in the Pendleton Round-Ups 52nd annual adult Indian Beauty Contest. According to the contestants, the beauty pageant is a tradition families pass down through the generations.
Alyssa Farrow, one of the youngest competitors at 14, said her familial connection gave her the initial bravery to compete. All my familys done it, she said calmly from atop her palomino, Ike. Farrow won first place at the Junior Indian Beauty contest last year, and moved into the adult tier in 2013. In first place this year was Katie Harris from Pendleton. Harris, 22, is a sixth-generation Round-Up volunteer whose great aunt and grandma won the contest in the 40s. Katie Harris was a 2010 Happy?Canyon Princess and a 2012 Round-Up princess whos currently studying Chemistry at Eastern Oregon University. In second place was Revonne Johnson, 16, from Warm Springs. A member of the Confederated tribes of Warm?Springs, she can sing the national anthem in her native Wasco language. In third was Chelsey Minthorn, 20, from Pendleton. Shes a Nixyaawii Community High School graduate studying Biology at Portland State University. Taking fourth was 18-year-old Appollonia Mae Saenz from Pendleton. She attends Pendleton High School and plans to venture on to Blue Mountain Community College next fall. Judges for the competition allocated points to natural beauty (25 percent), poise (25 percent) and quality of regalia (50 percent). The panel was made up of 12 Pendleton Woolen Mills representatives from the Northwest, California, New York and Japan judges Noaki Kokubu and Yoko Akatsu traveled all the way from Tokyo for the Round-Up week festivities.
According to pageant organizer, Jan?Levy, the event was especially lively this year. There are more people here than we usually have, she said. The closed off section of Main?Street was bustling with Round-Up visitors and Pendleton residents alike.
Read more at: https://eastoregonian.com/2013/09/12/harris-takes-indian-beauty-contest-title/