Miss Montana Reigning Champ Won’t Attend This Year Due To COVID
Almost every major event this year that was supposed to take place has pretty much either been cancelled or delayed thanks to COVID-19 - that includes this year's Miss America pageant, which was scheduled for December but will now take place in 2021 instead.
However, individual state competitions are still allowed to happen, as long as that state's Board of Health gives their approval. And in most cases... they have not. In fact, only one state got the go-ahead to proceed with their own competition. And that state was - wait for it - Montana!
So the Miss Montana competition for the year is officially underway, and it's scheduled for July 23rd through 25th at the Dawson County High School auditorium. The event is expected to bring in attendees from all over the state, but one key figure won't be making an appearance: last year's winner of the competition, Mo Shea from Helena.
Shea released a statement in an Instagram post in which she resigned as the Miss Montana titleholder, and said that "In light of the current public health crisis in our state and around the country, and my current understanding of the plan to move forward with this year's competition, I feel I would be putting my own health and the health of those in my life at risk by attend this year's program."
The organizers of the competition say they're working on reducing capacity and keeping the event as socially distant as possible, but they won't be requiring people to wear masks. Whoever wins will hold the title for two years before moving on to the national Miss America pageant in 2021.