For someone suffering from a lack of rest, the newest Miss Penticton was perfectly perky prior to her first public appearance.
“I didn’t sleep last night,” Annaka Ramsay confessed Saturday morning while awaiting the start of her ride aboard a float in the Peter Bros. Grand Parade that highlighted the Peach Festival.
The 17-year-old claimed the title at a pageant event Friday night.
Ramsay will soon begin Grade 12 at Penticton Secondary School, where she’s active in sports, and works at Loco Landing, which sponsored her for the contest.
She said entering the competition was not something she seriously considered until she attended an organizational meeting, which made the process sound like fun.
“I didn’t think I was going to like it as much as I did, but then I got so much out of it,” said Ramsay, who noticed improvements in her confidence, social skills, public speaking and performance abilities.
“On talent night I played my guitar and sang for everyone, which was huge for me,” she said.
Ramsay accepted her crown from Kelsey Laing, who was last year’s Miss Penticton.
“It was unbelievable. There was lots of travelling and I got to experience lots of new things,” Laing said of her reign. “Just so many opportunities I never thought I’d have before.”
She graduated this spring from Princess Margaret Secondary School and plans to spend the next year working, before enrolling in college in 2014 to begin studies that will set her on a path to becoming a police officer.
Laing wrote letters to the new Miss Penticton and her two princesses to encourage them to enjoy every moment of their time as Penticton ambassadors and help them prepare for what lies ahead.
She said Ramsay might have a tough time catching up on her rest.
“I think she doesn’t really know what she’s in for yet, because right now it’s all glitz and glam,” Laing said, “but it’s a lot of hard work, which I’m sure she’ll soon figure out.”
The 2013 princesses are Miss Downtown Penticton Association Sydney Wood, and Miss La Casa Ouzeria Grayce Overhill. Amanda Aantjes, sponsored by the Penticton Speedway, was voted Miss Congeniality.