High River's Chantel Wiebe recently competed in the Ms. Calgary pageant and brought home some hardware.

The event was held in conjunction with the Mrs. Calgary pageant on June 7th and 8th.

Wiebe was thrilled with how well it went.

"It was absolutely amazing. I loved every minute of it. The women that I got to compete with are incredible. I'm very excited, I get to go back next year for the Mrs. Division because I'll be getting married in May [2025]."

She says she won some awards including one that meant a lot.

"I actually brought home four awards, my absolute favourite being the Charity Award. The costume jewellery that I was collecting for Gems for Gems. I ended up collecting 30 pounds of jewellery. So, I got to take home the Charity Award. I also won an award for Ms. Salesmanship for selling the most tickets. And then for Best Smile and Best in Spirit."

Wiebe is looking forward to next year's pageant and shares why they mean so much to her because her experience modelling was very negative, and pageants really helped turn her outlook around.

"I found pageants, and they were a lot more inclusive, and they give every woman a platform to do something bigger and I think that's more the direction I wanted to go rather than it being all about me."

In an earlier interview, Wiebe shared more about the charity Gems for Gems.

"This pageant organization does a partnership with an organization called 'Gems for Gems' in Calgary. And this goes towards the charity portion of this competition. So, I am looking for anybody that has gently used costume jewelry that they would like to donate. It all gets repurposed, cleaned up and repackaged and sent to women in domestic abuse shelters for holiday gifts. If you have anything to donate reach out and let me know. It's one of the favourite parts of the competition."

Next year's Mrs. Calgary pageant is scheduled for June.

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