Shining tiaras

The nearly week-long Elysian Fourth of July Celebration kicked off with Desirae Domonoske receiving the honor of becoming Miss Elysian 2023, with Kyleigh Duffey and Abigail Osness as her attendants. Payton Miller was crowned Junior Miss Elysian 2023 with Mackenzie James and Miley Anderson as her attendants. Mia Sluzacek was crowned Princess of the Lakes with her sister Macy as one of her attendants; Meredith James is another.

In addition to the crownings, James and Osness were given awards for their talents.

2023 Miss Elysian Candidates

Desirae Domonoske is the daughter of Chad and Brenda Domonoske. She was sponsored by Mama’s Mercantile and the American Legion Post 311 Auxiliary of Elysian. Her talent was giving a presentation about herself, her abilities and skills, and about what the Elysian Fourth of July Celebration meant to her.

Kyleigh Duffey is the daughter of Justin and Stephanie James and William Duffey. She was sponsored by James Brothers Construction and Kuball Dairy. Her talent was a speech about body positivity.

Abigail Osness is the daughter of Tina Lamont. She was sponsored by Scoops, Pamela’s Pet Shop, and Up Town Cuts. Her talent was a clarinet solo.

All the Miss Elysian candidates will soon be seniors at Waterville-Elysian-Morristown High School.

2023 Junior Miss Elysian Candidates

Miley Anderson is the daughter of Shawn and Shawn Anderson; her sponsor was Fischer’s Corner Bar. Her talent for the night was a bow and arrow demonstration. Mackenzie James, daughter of Jacob and Ellie James, was sponsored by James Brothers Construction and Kuball Dairy. Her talent was performing “The Star Spangled Banner” and “God Bless America” on violin. Payton Miller, daughter of John and Brandis Miller, was sponsored by Elite Lawn Care. She performed a jazz dance to Lady Gaga’s “Bloody Mary.”

2023 Princess of the Lakes

There were seven girls around the ages of 5-7 vying for the Princess of the Lakes title; Bailee Ahlman, daughter of Jesse Ahlman and Tiffany Hering; Mackenzie Carr, daughter of Brandon and Katie Carr; Reese Hebl, daughter of Ben and Hillary Hebl; Meredith James, daughter of Jacob and Ellie James; Mary and Mia Sluzacek, daughters of Charlie and Emily Sluzacek; and Taylor Tolzmann, daughter of TJ Tolzmann and Rachel Tolzmann.

After being presented, the candidates performed a dance to “You’re a Grand ‘Ole Flag.”

Questions

The Junior Miss Elysian candidates were the first to answer questions, followed by the Miss Elysian candidates.

Anderson was asked, “Who is your favorite celebrity and why?”

“Probably Britney Spears,” she answered. “She’s been a big part of my life all my life. I love how inspiring her music is.”

James was then asked what makes her unique. “I think what makes me unique is that I play instruments like the violin, I do 4-H and I am the president, and that I play with my siblings a lot.”

Miller’s question was, “What and why are you most grateful for?”

“I’m most grateful for my family and my friends because they’re so supportive of me.”

The first Miss Elysian candidate to be asked a question was Desirae Domonoske. Her question was, “If you could go back in time, what advice would you give yourself?”

“Always be confident in yourself, because even if everybody else isn’t, you have yourself to lean on,” she answered

Duffey’s question was, “What was your biggest challenge, and how did you overcome it?”

“Some of you guys already know this, but it’s definitely my eating disorder and overcoming residential treatment,” she responded.

Osness was then asked, “What do you want people to remember about you?”

“I want people to remember about my heart and how I made them feel,” she said.

Miss Elysian 2022 Royalty

As part of their farewell, last year’s Junior Miss Elysian royalty performed talents while the Miss Elysian Royalty gave a presentation reviewing the whole year. Isabella Cage, Junior Miss Elysian Attendant, performed a dance to “Look Up Child” by Lauren Daigle while Junior Miss Elysian Madalyn Miller performed a dance to Billie Eilish’s “Lovely.”

Cage thanked her sponsor, James Brothers Construction, for the opportunity to represent Elysian. “I got to know people from other communities and was able to see how they do their pageants and what they do differently from us.”

“I’m so grateful I got the privilege to be part of this community,” Miller said. “Thank you to everyone who came out here tonight to support the new royalty. One last thing I would like to do before you welcome the new royalty is thank my parents and all the parents who helped us, in many different ways, including driving us both through parades and providing snacks to all the royalty. Please welcome the new royalty with the same kindness that you welcomed me this past year. Thank you.”

Miss Elysian 2022 Ava LaFrance and her attendant Katrina Brekke thanked their sponsors.

“Thank you all for a great year,” Brekke said. “This was a new experience for me to try and come up on stage. I’d like to thank my family for everything. It’s been such a wonderful year of meeting other princesses.”

LaFrance shared her farewell speech next. “If you would have asked me if I would have gone out for this pageant, I would have said no. But my grandma would have loved this for me. My grandpa probably left a little early already.

“With everything going on, it’s been a great year. I got the opportunity to go up to the St. Paul carnival. It was a lot of fun, even though we were freezing our butts off…it was very cold. We also have to eat with two spoons, two forks, and two knives. None of us were prepared.

“All in all, I’ve met so many different royalty this year. I don’t know how many parades we’ve attended an hour away from us.

“But most of all, thank you all for this opportunity to represent this community. I’m proud to be a part of it. I never would have thought I’d be up here, wearing a crown and a dress, let alone being your Miss Elysian 2022.”

Miss Elysian 2023 Speech

When Domonoske was crowned, she had a speech already prepared. She started by thanking the coordinators for making the pageant possible. “I would also like to thank the firefighters for letting us use this amazing fire hall,” she added. “Thank you to the judges for taking time out of their day to be here tonight.”

She then thanked her supporters. “You guys rock,” she said. “I am so excited to represent this town and celebrate this weekend with these two amazing girls by my side. Thank you all for coming tonight and have a great Fourth of July!”