The Eatonton Service League (ESL) hosted its 62nd annual Dairy Festival Queen pageant on May 20, at The Plaza Arts Center, with more than 110 girls entering.
The pageant, always one of the ESL’s biggest fundraisers of the year, wouldn’t be possible without the effort of the many local women who volunteer their time each year, local businesses that donate their services, and parents who support their daughters’ desires to be in the pageant.
Along with their titles, the Dairy Festival Queen and her court also were awarded cash prizes of $1,000, $500, and $250, sponsored by The Pilot Club.
Each 2023 Dairy Festival Queen Pageant winner will be presented again during the Dairy Festival Parade on June 3, on the Eatonton Service League and Pilot Club floats and at an awards ceremony on the courthouse stage, shortly after the parade’s conclusion.
The Eatonton Service League thanks Hank Griffeth for his 19 years of volunteering as the emcee for the day and The Pilot Club, the Eatonton Police Department, The Plaza Arts Center, and Mark Turner of Turner Photo Design for their assistance with the pageant. ESL also thanks Hickory Hill Nursery and Landscape Supply for providing stage decorations and Empire South at Lake Oconee, Madeleine Page at Lake Oconee, Edward Jones Investments - William Thompson, Lake Oconee Food and Wine Festival, and Sandy Dillard and Terri Burner of Keller Williams Lake Oconee for their donations to the judges’ gift baskets.