It was a clash of beautiful, intelligent and mature women at the National Cultural Centre on Saturday last, but in the end, Quacy McGowan emerged victorious with the 2008 Ms Renaissance crown and title.
Quacy, a 31-year-old teacher at Mae’s Schools was crowned around 1 am on Sunday following an outstanding all-round performance that wooed most in the audience.
After the first two rounds of competition – corporate attire and the cultural presentation, it was evident that the judges had a tough task ahead of them, as the audience was taken by more than half of the pool of contestants, each of whom displayed the attitude of a queen.
That toughness of choice spilled into the third segment – cocktails after five, as audience members cheered loudly for their favourites.
After some five hours of competition, Quacy was named the winner, 49-year-old Patricia Helwig, first runner-up, 32-year-old Renita Crandon-Duncan, second runner-up and Mayor and City Council employee, 39-year-old Jacqueline King, third runner-up.
There was a lower than expected turnout for the pageant and many seats were empty, likely because of the Sparrow Meets the Dragon show at the Thirst Park.
The show started around 8.20 pm when the contestants clad in business attire introduced themselves to the audience. During the introductions, each woman compared herself to a Guyanese woman who has made great strides in a sport.
This segment help set the mood for the pageant and it was during the second segment that the audience were able to distinguish the outstanding contestants.
The cultural awareness and talent of the women were evident as they performed songs, monologues, drama or played a musical instrument. All of the pieces were original.
Patricia Helwig wooed the crowd as she gyrated to the sounds of African drumming and judging from her performance one would probably say that she had been doing this for years. That was how good the only grandmother of the pageant was.
But it was Esther Moore, Renita Crandon-Duncan, Quacy Mc Gowan and Carol Fraser-Lindie that had patrons screaming at the top of their lungs and clapping until their hands were sore.
Esther, a 35-year-old Librarian at the University of Guyana, sang a calypso questioning why Guyanese were leaving. In her performance, she was encouraging Guyanese to stay and help to contribute to their country’s development. At the end, the applause lasted for about three minutes with some asking for a repeat performance.
Renita’s piece `I run things, things na run me’ was another good performance that was well received by the audience. Placing emphasis on moving forward in life despite challenges, she sent a strong message that she is the one that is running her life and not the ills of society. She was eventually given the best cultural presentation award.
Quacy also captured the hearts the hearts of the audience with a song entitled “Guyana it’s us”.
Carol started her performance with the beating of drums, changed into an Amerindian-themed outfit and danced to music which was accompanied by drumming.
Though the first half was fun filled, it was a bit too long with lengthy introductions and acknowledgements. It concluded around 10:45 pm.
The second half started about 15 minutes later with a video production of the contestants, “On the road to pageant night” and by this time members of the audience were beginning to get uneasy.
Following the more acknowledgements of sponsors and supporters of the contestants, the competition moved on to the Cocktails (After five elegance) segment.
The audience were treated to colours and creativity when the women emerged but hearts began to thunder when it was time to announce the final four.
Fifteen minutes later, after tallying their scores, the six judges chose Renita, Patricia, Jacqueline and Quacy. But it was the final question segment that proved tough for some of the contestants.
The finalists were asked “If you can change something in your life, what would it be and why?” Renita and Jacqueline said they would change nothing, while Patricia said she would like to change things such as crime, school drops out, incest and rape by having talking and lobbing with the government.
However, Quacy was a bit firmer in her response when she said “I would change my teaching status to become president”. This was met with a deafening applause and after about a minute she was allowed to continue. She went on to say, that she would use that position to increase the salaries of the teachers in order to decrease their rate of migration.
Quacy burst into tears after she realized that she was the winner and her supporters and others in the audience, applauded the judges’ decision.
Among her prizes is a scholarship to attend the University of Guyana, trips around and outside Guyana, guest appearances on several television shows and $100,000.
Esther copped the Ms Congeniality award while Donna Austin was awarded with the Ms Photogenic and Executive awards.
Among the dignitaries at the pageant were Prime Minister Samuel Hinds and Mayor of Georgetown Hamilton Greene.
Ms Renaissance 2007 Simone Beckles crowned the new title holder.