Copperas Cove Scholarship Pageant takes the stage on Saturday

Special to the Leader-Press 

Big Dreams Under the Big Top is the theme of this year’s Copperas Cove’s Five Hills Scholarship Pageant, presented by Manning Homes and sponsored by VFW Post #8577. The popular community service program which has drawn 116 contestants this year will crown its new titleholders on Saturday, March 24, at the Copperas Cove Civic Center.  The pageant will be the culminating event of the City’s birthday week celebration.  The pageant is open to boys ages 0-8 and girls and women of all ages. 
This year, the pageant will award more than $80,000 in scholarships and prizes to its contestants and winners.  W. B. Development returns as the sponsor of the educational savings bonds for the winners of the younger royalty in the Baby Miss through the Pre-Teen categories while Extraco Banks provides the scholarships for the Young Miss and the Teen Miss winners and Scott’s Funeral Home provides the scholarship for the new Miss Five Hills.  
Every contestant will receive at least $250 in prizes simply for entering with contestants ages 9 and older receiving prize packages valued at more than $400. These prizes include tickets to the zoo and museums, certificates to local restaurants and salons, gymnastic, dance and taekwondo lessons and more. Winners get to make a myriad of appearances representing the City including riding on the new professional parade float in more than a dozen parades throughout the year.  The Daisy Flower Shop provides the bouquets of flowers for the incoming and outgoing queens and boutonnieres for the incoming and outgoing kings.  
The newly crowned queens will also receive custom crowns from Bill French Jewelers that spell out Copperas Cove in rhinestones inside the tiaras along double satin rhinestone sashes while the kings receive velvet crown, kings robes, and scepters.  Immediately following the pageant is a coronation ball which is no cost to pageant goers.     
The new royalty is expected to make more than 200 appearances as a group during their year- long reign amassing more than 5,000 hours of service to the community.