Members of the community gathered together in an elegant and sophisticated setting at Soul Foods for the annual Narromine Showgirl ball for 2018.
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The title was claimed by 22-year-old Keiley O'Brien, with Karly Bourke awarded runner-up, and according to Showgirl coordinator Sarah Weir the judges had a tough decision to make between eight fabulous candidates.
“It went really well. It's been our best one yet,” Ms Weir said.
This year the event sold out with 151 people, which Ms Weir said was their “biggest ball yet”.
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Entrants included Samantha Paine, Karly Bourke, Keiley O'Brien, Sarah Moody, Jordan Bakac, Holly Monaghan, Katrine Rasmussen and Sam Reid who were each asked about their passions and why they entered the competition.
The local showgirl competition seeks to select a young woman to become not only an ambassador for the community, but the face of Narromine.
The ladies are judged on a number of categories including personality, confidence, life goals and ambitions. They are also judged on presentation, speech and are asked to demonstrate their involvement in the community and knowledge of current affairs.
Miss O’Brien currently works as an Administration Officer at Wideland Ag and Construction in Narromine, all the while she is studying a Bachelor of Agriculture and Business through the University of New England.
“I believe agriculture in general is an exciting industry. It’s also the backbone of our region,” Miss O’Brien said.
“If I could play apart in developing and communicating more sustainable and efficient practices and technologies, that could ultimately increase farm productivity and outputs whilst reducing inputs and environmental impact that would give me a sense of fulfilment,” she said.
Miss O’Brien said despite moving to Narromine only two years ago she has found the community “very welcoming and friendly”.
“I love that Narromine is small enough that you can get from one end to the other within a matter of minutes, but it’s still big enough to provide just about everything you need,” she said.
She went on to say she entered the Showgirl competition this year not only to integrate herself into the community more, but to become more involved in the Show.
“I wanted to enter the Narromine Showgirl Competition to make more friends and connections within the community. I also wanted to use it as an opportunity to get more involved in the show itself and to fine tune my professional interviewing and networking skills,” Miss O’Brien said.
This year the Showgirl ball hosted a raffle raising $710 for Buy a Bale.
“Being an agricultural Show Society we have a lot of farmers and people in the industry in our committee and really it's one of the biggest issues in rural NSW at the moment with the drought,” Ms Weir said.
“We thought instead of keeping the money, it would certainly go to a better cause of helping our farmers,” she said.
Ms Weir said the Showgirl Ball, which is “such a big part of our community” wouldn’t be possible without the help of their sponsors, who have helped maintain the show despite the dry times.
“A massive thank you to our sponsors, because without them we wouldn't have a ball, we wouldn't have a competition … without the support of our local community we would be nothing,” Ms Weir said.
Miss O’brien will be at the Narromine Show from August 31 until September 1.