From left to right: Miss Penticton 2023/2024 Annika Neill, Miss Penticton 2024/2025 Gurleen Grewal, Penticton Princess 2024/2025 Cindy Li and Penticton Princess 2023/2024 Elena collins.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Richelle Beaudoin
March 01, 2025 - 6:00 AM
The modern-day Miss Penticton pageant has come a long way from it's origin in 1948 and is now a development program with a focus on empowering young women.
“We want women to feel confident in themselves, and I feel especially now in 2025, with everything going on in the world, it can be very difficult to try and be confident in who you are, to feel that you matter and you have the power to make change,” Peach Festival royalty director and Miss Penticton ambassador committee member Richelle Beaudoin told iNFOnews.ca.
“We want them to know that even if at 16 you feel like you don't matter, you do. Feeling like you matter and feeling like you have power is an important thing to carry through life.”
From January to August each year, the Miss Penticton program not only teaches young women etiquette, makeup, self-care and proper posture, independence and self-sufficiency are also key lessons.
Changing a car tire, financial literacy, self-defence and how to deal with stress and anxiety in the world and workplace as women are also important lessons.
READ MORE: Seven wineries to visit in the Okanagan and Kamloops this spring
“With women's self confidence kind of being shot down with the things we see on the internet and what's being pushed towards us, I think that having these outlets to really express ourselves and feel like we're in a safe place surrounded by like-minded young women, it's going to be really important for us,” the current Miss Penticton Gurleen Grewal said.
Grewal said she's learned to feel comfortable and confident with who she is.
“Truly, really, I don't feel as confident as I do when I have my crown on. It's not something I rely on, but it definitely helps to walk around with my tiara and to wear a nice dress. I think that a lot of women in Penticton who are interested in the program kind of underestimate how much it can do for your confidence,” she said.
The program pushes participants to be the best version of themselves, Beaudoin said, adding some of the girls seem like completely different people at the completion of the program.
Former Miss Penticton Annika Neill agreed.
“You can see how all the different skills kind of blossom over time. It's just really neat to see them come out of their shell, because we're all high school age girls and that's kind of where it starts,” she said.
“You see that maturity develop and that sense of responsibility and sense of belonging and that confidence in all different skills. It's really powerful to see.”
The program encourages volunteerism and participants spend time working with marginalized groups.
“It gives you a sense of appreciation for more people within your community, because you get to see different aspects of the community that you wouldn't necessarily have seen before, and it allows you to support them and give back to your community while still recognizing how it's filling your bucket,” Neill said.
This year's Miss Penticton ambassador program is underway but it's not too late to get involved. Check out the program's Facebook page here for more information.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Bailey Zimmer or call 250-808-0143 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here. Find our Journalism Ethics policy here.
News from © iNFOnews, 2025