Mr. Blue Pony Pageant to be a manly tournament

Lindsey McInerney, the adviser for Havre High School Student Congress, is organizing the event and said that people should expect a good show.

"Mr. Blue Pony Pageant is an event put on by student congress where we chose eight different candidates, two from each class, that we thought represented the high school and what it means to be a Blue Pony," McInerney said.

The eight contestants were chosen to compete in the pageant from a larger group of nominations. Students were able to nominate someone for the pageant and student congress sent out applications to those nominees.

The names were removed from the returned applications so that student Congress could choose eight candidates anonymously from the pool.

"We chose by their profile - a series of questions like what are your activities, why do you want to be Mr. Blue Pony, what are you going to do after high school, etc., etc.," McInerney said.

She said that humor had a large part to play in who they picked, as well as their school pride.

There will be three categories in the competition: talent, where candidates can show off their developed skills and the formal and beach wear, included in which a frozen T-shirt race where they have to take apart a rolled up, frozen t-shirt and put it on before

anyone else.

"Last year, we had some people sing songs, some played music; this year we have some people who are telling jokes, doing musical numbers," McInerney said.

There will be an intermission at this point - punch and cookies provided - during which, judges will narrow the selection down to four. The third and final category will be the questions and answers.

The winner of the pageant will receive a $100 Havre Area Chamber of Commerce gift card donated by the Booster Club and the champion's 2015 Mr. Blue Pony T-shirt. There will be prizes for the runner-ups.

"It allows various types of Havre High male students to showcase their personality and showcase their Blue Pony pride," she said.

Thomas Keith, one of the junior contestants, said he wants to be Mr. Blue Pony because he feels like he could be a good representation of Blue Pony pride.

"I'm in involved in everything in this high school like music, sports, things like Leadership High School," Keith said. " ... I feel like I have a lot of pep in the school because I'm in the Pep Band, and I'm the loudest one there, so I feel like I could be the perfect Mr. Blue Pony for that."

The contestants this year are: JonGlen Augare, Emilio Bautista, Chris Gabrielsen, Thomas Keith, Trenton Parrotte, Trey Scofield, Dylan Stewart and Ryan Stewart.

"It's competitive, but it's still good fun," McInerney said. "It's showing off school spirit."

Tickets to the pageant are $5 for adults and $3 for students. The show begins at 7 p.m. April 9 in the Havre High School Auditorium.