Shayla Le Coz will be representing her hometown, Petawawa at this years Regional Canada Pageant 2025 happening at Collège Boréal in Sudbury. This three day competition gets under way today and runs until Saturday. Le Coz is a social worker for military family counseling at the Garrison Petawawa, and will be competing for her first time as a Miss Delegate.
Shayla and her father Richard Le Coz are pictured holding his quilt he received for serving for over 35 years in the military (photo by: Shayla Le Coz)
She started pageantry in 2018 and has competed in two other competitions, she tells myFM that participating as a delegate allows her to represent her hometown and raise awareness and funds for a great charity.
Le Coz held a Paint Night Fundraiser with Starbucks in Petawawa to raise funds for the Northern Ontario Families with Cancer. Within her platform, she noted that she combined one of her passions to assist with another great organization.
When people think of pageants normally they think that it’s just for someone with a pretty smile, but Le Coz shares that’s not the case.
The first day of the competition (May 1st) entails hair and makeup, photo shoot, runway training and lots of empowering workshops. The second day which is also Shayla’s birthday is rehearsal day which includes a five minute interview with the judges and at night is the preliminary competition.
The final day is the big day, which means the finals.
Le Coz tells myFM what she learned from participating in pageants, she reminds everyone to not let your dreams stay dreams.
The representative of Quilts of Valour Amy Taylor, will have a booth for Quilts of Valour at the Pembroke Log Cabin Quilters Guild Quilt Show happening on Saturday May 31st, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Petawawa Civic Centre with information on how the public can get involved either through volunteering or by sponsoring a quilt.
(Written by: Emma Butler)