Commission approves option to award Miss Beaver County scholarship without requiring state contest attendance

The Beaver County Commission on July 1 approved a procedural change allowing winners of Miss Beaver County to receive a county scholarship even if they opt not to attend the state pageant.

A county fair representative asked the commission to approve a flexible scholarship approach and described requesting a $5,000 scholarship fund to support contestants. The presenter said the county normally pays a state participation fee (about $600 for the teen division) and currently awards a $500 scholarship to teens; they proposed increasing the teen scholarship to $1,000 and covering the state fee for contestants who choose to go.

For the adult Miss Beaver County, the presenter said organizers requested $5,000 that could be split: if a winner chose not to go to the state contest, organizers would award half ($2,500) as a local scholarship and retain county cost savings on travel and staffing. The presenter described past years when winners had to attend district/state pageants to receive scholarship funds and said the proposed change would give winners the option to take scholarship funds locally if they prefer not to compete at state.

Commissioners moved to permit the county to provide the scholarship regardless of state contest attendance and to formalize the policy via motion; the motion was seconded and approved by voice vote. No dollar appropriation was made on the floor at that time; staff directed fair organizers to formalize registration deadlines and scholarship administration details for commission records.