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By Elisabeth Altamirano-Smith | Community Columnist

The south is full of Southern Belles and beauty pageants. With that comes many noble causes and responsibilities, but one pageant has devoted its mission entirely to help underprivileged children have a great Christmas. The Strawberry Queens of Chilton County are hosting Miss Wildflower — a statewide pageant which will be held Sept. 30 at 1:00 p.m. at Thorsby High School. The pageant fundraiser and will help the queens sponsor children in the Chilton County Department of Human Resources for Christmas.

Applications are open to anyone in the state of Alabama, newborn to 18 years of age. Applications are available at Thorsby City Hall, Chilton County School offices and also available online via the Miss Strawberry Queens of Chilton County’s Facebook page.

The idea to sponsor children from DHR for Christmas came when Strawberry Queen Director, Janie Ellison, wanted to help on a bigger level.

“The queens always sponsor a child from DHR for Christmas,” said Ellison. “We have a few fundraisers throughout the year but typically are only able to give one child a good Christmas. All of the money raised from the Miss Wildflower pageant will go to DHR’s Christmas. We would ideally like to give three or four children a great Christmas but it will depend on the number of applicants and the attendance we get from the community.”

Application fees for Miss Wildflower are $60, which includes the pageant fee with a Miss Photogenic photo. Applicants may opt to pay $50 to just enter the pageant as well. The deadline to submit applications is Sept. 23. There will be ten age categories and five additional awards that will be given out. Admission will be $5.

Miss Wildflower will not have any reigning responsibilities throughout the year. The objective of her title will be that the Miss Wildflower Pageant sponsor underprivileged children at Christmas.

The current reigning Strawberry Queens are Miss Strawberry Jesslyn Maddox, Junior Miss Strawberry Alanna Cleckler, Young Miss Strawberry Lanie Adams and Little Miss Strawberry Carlee Smith. All of the Strawberry Queens are excited to help other children, especially at Christmas time.

“Christmas is the celebration of hope, love, joy and peace,” said Cleckler. “These are the greatest gifts we can ever give, but they are often the most difficult, especially if we have not received them from others. That’s why this pageant is so important to us. It’s a way we can bring hope, love, joy and peace to the ones that need it the most.”

Thorsby High School is located at 54 Opportunity Drive, Thorsby, Alabama.

For more information, visit the Miss Strawberry Queens of Chilton County Facebook page.