Welcome to our new web site!

To give our readers a chance to experience all that our new website has to offer, we have made all content freely avaiable, through October 1, 2018.

During this time, print and digital subscribers will not need to log in to view our stories or e-editions.

Little Misses, Miss Pre-Teen Set to Compete June 19

Posted

Bella Batton, 9, and Lola Batton, 7, daughters of Josefina and Chad Batton, are participating in the Miss Tennessee Volunteer Pageant as Iris Princesses. Bella, the Royal Miss International-West Tennessee Sweetheart, is Emma Martin’s Iris Princess, and Lola, 2021 Little Miss McKenzie, is the Iris Princess for Kelsi Walters, Miss Knoxville. Over the past year, Bella and Lola have contributed to their McKenzie community by sewing blankets for newborn babies and working with their church to distribute prepared meals to shut-ins during the COVID-19 quarantine. Bella will also compete in the Little Miss Tennessee Volunteer Pageant in Jackson on Saturday, June 19. Both sisters will compete in Orlando, Florida, this July for the title of Royal International Miss, where they are both excited to get dressed up in “pretty gowns” and meet new friends. This pageant will be livestreamed on the Royal International Miss website.

Also representing McKenzie June 19 is Kinsley Grace Wilson, the 10-year-old daughter of Sara Wilson and Kelsey Robinson and the granddaughter of Sam and Lisa Wheat. Kinsley will enter the fifth grade at McKenzie Middle School in the fall. Kinsley, the Royal International Miss Tennessee Volunteer Sweetheart, will compete in the Pre-Teen Miss Tennessee Volunteer Pageant. Her platform is based on speech and communications disorders, a subject she is passionate about. To raise money and awareness for this platform, she sold customized “SPEAK UP” shirts. Kinsley has earned over fifty community service hours since February by delivering cards to nursing homes, hospice care, hospitals, COVID-19 patients, and more. Kinsley said, “It’s not always about the sparkly crown on my head; it’s about the fun, the experiences, and the sparkle in my heart.” She will also compete in the Royal International Miss Pageant in Orlando, Florida, in July.

Dresden’s Emma Cate Carr, the daughter of Leigh Carr, Bethel Cheerleading Coach, is Jayne-Shaye Bailey’s Iris Princess at the pageant. Emma Cate is the Territorial Queen of the Little Iris Festival and is an incoming fifth-grader at Dresden Elementary. She will compete in the Pre-Teen Miss Tennessee Volunteer Pageant Saturday, June 19.