Miss Canadian Universe'97, Carmen Kempt and the first runner-up, Miss St. Albert, Viktorija(Vicky) Kujundzic
1997 marked the 5th anniversary of the Canadian Search For Miss Universe and this year's pageant was held at the Edmonton Convention Center. The pageant itself was okay, not great or horrible but it was no CSMU'98. That year was my favorite and also this pageant just didn't have the energy of that year. It's amazing how much the pageant improved in one year, and in almost every aspect of the pageant. This year's pageant was held in association with a Chinese event and shared their stage. The stage itself wasn't too great, okay, but once again, the 1998 one was MUCH better. The lighting wasn't as good and wasn't as bright as in 1998. One good thing though was that all the girls could fit onstage at the same time(this was a problem other years) and the actual shape of the stage was quite nice. The backround of the stage was never changed though, which was too bad, there was was a sign that was tacked onto the wall that said the Canadian Search For Miss Universe. There was one thing though that made the stage alot better: the contestants, and they were great this year.
from left to right, top row,Prince George(BC), St Albert(AB), Toronto(ON), Kelowna(BC), Quebec City(Quebec), Sudsbury(ON), Calgary(AB), Edmonton(AB), New Brunswick, Fort Saskatchewon(AB), bottom row:VAncover(BC), Medicine Hat(AB), Ottawa(Ontario), Winnipeg(MN), Niagara(ON), Red Deer(AB), and Central BC.
Here's another shot of some of the beautiful contestants!
The night before the pageant the delegates had a fashion show for the Chinese association holding the pageant.
Introduction
The pageant introduction where the delegates introduced themselves really didn't have the energy that the 98 one did. It got the job done but could have been alot, and I mean alot better! The music they used was the ordinary kind of graduation music(sorry I don't know how to explain but it is used alot in little miss pageants) and worked okay for the beginning but that's it. The girls came out from backstage, went down the stairs went in some circles, the choreography was pretty good, and then started introducing themselves. It wasn't bad, but compared to other years, it was quite mundane.
Here's Miss Red Deer, Miss St Albert, and Miss Fort Saskatchewan!
The 1997 Delegates:
Atlantic Provinces:
-Miss New Brunswick, Venessa Boucher
Quebec
-Miss Quebec City, Quebec, Annick Lavigne
Ontario
-Miss Toronto, Ontario, Ronda Copeland
-Miss Ottawa, Ontario, Anjali Patil
-Miss Niagra, Ontario, Mary Gyurko
-Miss Sudbury, Ontario, Marisol Teijeiro
-Miss Harrow, Ontario, Angelique Davis
(did not attend pageant)
Manitoba
-Miss Winnipeg, Manitoba, Sharon Ram-Ditta
Alberta
-Miss Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Bridgette Hardy
-Miss Calgary, Alberta, Tammy Gislason
-Miss Red Deer, Alberta, Carmen Kempt
-Edmonton, Alberta, Sangeet Dhaliwal
-Miss Medicine Hat, Alberta, Magdalena Smieszek
-Miss St. Albert, Alberta, Victorija Kujundzic
British Columbia
-Miss Prince George, BC, Jennifer Kaesmodel
-Miss Central BC, Coreen Robertson
-Miss Vancouver, BC, Layla Alizada
-Miss Kelowna, BC, Julie Williamson
There were 17 contestants from all across Canada. Which did beat the prior years 16, so it's nice that the amount grew.
Right after the intro the delegates did a country dance with a country dancing group.
Swimsuit Competition
After that it was time for the swimsuit compettion. The girls all wore black one piece suits and a cover up which they took off when they got to the front of the stage, then they did a little circle(there was no catwalk this year, unlike in 98) while Disney's The Little Mermaid's Under The Sea song was playing without the words, so that you could hear each girls recorded message about herself, her age and some of her asperations. The messages were great, my favorite thing about the swimsuit competition. This competition was okay but again, the 98 one was much better.
The black suits looked odd because the stage wasn't very colourful. The music was okay but more suited for 1998 because the stage was much brighter that year and the girls wore whatever color they wanted which was cool.
Best in Swimsuit
-Miss Niaraga, Ontario looked like she was very atletic and her body was very toned. She wore a suit that was mostly black but with white straps and strips of white at the bottom(similar at the ones they wore at Miss USA'98) and wore her hair down which looked great!
-Miss Ottawa, Ontario had really great legs! This is one of the girls that would have looked great in a two piece! She also had a great smile while on stage was was very young and pretty looking
-Miss Quebec City, Quebec was beautiful and had great hair. She was quite slim as well but she wore a very revealing swimsuit in the from and back and it came off as being inappropriate
-Miss Edmonton, Alberta had great hair that was partly pulled back, she was East Indian and they always have such gorgeous long thick beautiful hair! She was really slim and looked quite athletic and healthy!
-Miss Sudsbury, Ontario had a really cute smile while on stage! Her hair looked okay up, but just okay and would have looked much better down! Her hips looked very big but there was a good reason, she was a dancer and they were all mussle! She was probably also retaining water, she could have have dehyderated them but oh well. Besides she had SUCH a cute smile she had a really cute way of modelling on stage too! 9.30
-Miss St Albert was very tall and slim. Her greatest asset for the swimsuit competition was her legs! They were so slim and long! Very pretty girl too.
-Miss Fort Saskatchewan was very pretty. She wasn't the greatest in swimsuit but I had to mention just how pretty she is. She was very unpolished for this pageant(it was probably her first) but she was still quite nice and it would be great if she came back again.
This year's delegates were quite good in swimsuit. Most of them had to wear their hair up because they wouldn't have time to put it up before the evening gown competition.
Evening Gown Competition
Then it was time for the evening gown competition. Like other years, the delegate got a little sister and escort. The idea of escort and little sister is okay. Some people really like it, while others don't so it's personal preference. The children onstage were so cute. At the beginning of the competition they were kind of all over the stage but eventually this was worked out and the competition was underway. There were mouties with flags on either side of the delegates' entrance to the stage. CSMU does this quite often like in Miss USA but Mounties don't come off the same way they do as the police officers or soilders and they look unnessary because the children are enough already.
The choreography of the girls was that they came on stage with the escort(each delegate had her own escort, aswell as little sister). The escort brought her down the steps then he kissed her hand which was very classy! Then she waited for her little sister to come give her a rose. She walked to the front of the stage with her little sister then she let her go, and walked to three points on the stage while showing off their gowns. Then she went back with her little sister and went offstage. After all the girls had come out the pageant children(there was little boys there too) stayed on the sides of the stage while all the delegates lined up with their escorts behind them.
Now I'll talk about the delegates who were all great!
-Miss Prince George, BC was going for a princess kind of look but was very elegant in black and looked very sophisicated! She wore a full fronted black gown, which had sequins on the front and beautiful high rising gloves which were so elegant and she wore black so well.
-Miss Niaragara, Ontario wore a silver, very metalic looking slip dress which looked quite cool! She left her hair down which was also nice. Other then the hair and gown she just had the natural beauty to stand out!
-Miss New Brunswick had her hair up in a very nice bun style, which looked very mature. She wore a very elegant turquoise gown coved in sequins with straps below the shoulder which was great.
-Miss Medicine Hat, Alberta wore a basic, but elegant, black gown with a necklace. She wore her hair up, which looked nice.
-Miss Ottawa, Ontario wore an okay silver satin gown with sequins and a little bit cut out of the back! It was a nice colour and the gown was quite nice also but she was great because of her stage pressence and great smile.
-Miss Central, BC wore a black gown which was a fully covered top which was tight and had a beautiful gold pattern on it. The bottom was black and hung which looked very elegant and mature.
-Miss Calgary, Alberta wore a tight, black satin gown with white straps and a white train on the back. The way she treated her little sister was very cute and possibly and Tammy is such a sweetheart herself! 9.35
-Miss Quebec City, Quebec wore a verey elegant all black gown with straps and a low cut in the front. She had a very elegant, sexy way of walking which was great! She wore her hair just right with this gown too and the curls in it looked great.
-Miss Edmonton, Alberta was going for a very princessy kind of look when she wore a purple full skirted, wide straped below the shoulder gown. She wore a necklace and white gloves with it. The necklace was a pretty nice touch but the gown would have looked better without the gloves. She left her beautiful curly hair down which was nice again.
-Miss Kelowna, BC was trying to look very grown up, elegant, and sophisicated in a purple slip gown with shoulder pads(the kind that make for that grown up look) and a beautiful sequined pattern all over the gown! It looked pretty good but made her look a little wide though. This gown was the same one she wore in 1995 when she was second to Lana Buchberger. She didn't look the same though as in 1997. Purple is really Julie's colour.
-Miss Toronto, Ontario wore a very cool original dress which was black with silver sequins on it.
(from left to right)Prince George, Niagara, New Brunswick, Medicine Hat, Ottawa, Central BC, Calgary, Quebec, Edmonton, Kelowna, Toronto, Sudsbury, Red Deer, St Albert, Fort Sask, Winnipeg is covering the next in line, Vancover.
-Miss Sudbury, Ontario a simple black and white flowing gown with silver sequins. Her stage presense was great and she was so cute to her little sister when she forgot to come give Marisol the rose, she did this adorable hand motion and the little sister knew what to do. Marisol also has the most amazing smile onstage that she proudly showed onstage.
-Miss Winnipeg wore a black metalic looking dress with sequins and beads all over it. It was cool and the back of was a very interesting criss cross design.
-Miss Vancover wore a very elegant and almost haute couture black gown with black, silver, gold, and white sequins beaded in a very cool pattern on it! She wore her hair which looked quite nice. I didn't see her model but the gown itself was very nice.
-Miss Red Deer, Alberta looked somewhat page onstage in a red gown. Red really stoud out on the stage because no one else wore anything bright really! She wore her hair down which was okay but it probably would have looked better up but she was still very cute.
-Miss St. Albert, Alberta came out in black slip gown with mesh around the back and neck, which was a nice touch. She also wore black gloves that were quite nice too! She wore her hair up which was nice. She really wore black well.
-Miss Fort Saskatchewon, Alberta didn't have the best gown of the group. She wore a brown slip gown with the back cut up and which was quite high on the legs. Despite the gown she was very pretty, just unpolished.
There were alot of black gowns this year but they were nice. The make up was quite heavy onstage which wasn't too good but all the girls still looked nice.
At this time the intermission was called, and since it was half time in the show, I'll have to call half time in my review so that the pictures will load faster but if you'd like to see the rest of CSMU 97,
