The Miss Missouri pageant is back on the calendar after organizers were forced to cancel the annual event in 2020.

Board members from the Miss Missouri Scholarship Pageant hosted a workshop on Saturday at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Mexico for contestants and family members. Organizers discussed the 2021 production and the paperwork involved.

As a reminder of the pandemic that shut down proceedings a year ago, reigning Miss Missouri Simone Esters attended the workshop via Zoom from her new home in Chicago.

Esters was crowned in 2019. Last fall the pageant’s board decided to extend the reigns of both Miss Missouri and the Miss Missouri Outstanding Teen until the event could resume.

The 2021 pageant will take place June 13-19 in Mexico, with competition nights on June 16-19 at the Missouri Military Academy. Miss Missouri candidates are set to arrive June 13, with the Outstanding Teen candidates to join them the next day.

There will be an orientation in Mexico on April 10 to hammer out the final details.

“Right now the young women are preparing, doing paperwork, from their homes or colleges,” said pageant board member Alice Leonatti.

The pageant awards scholarships to the winners. Esters received a $14,000 scholarship along with her Miss Missouri crown. As Outstanding Teen, Shae Smith was presented with $6,000 in scholarship funds.

Last year Smith had to relinquish her duties due to a change of location. Hebron took over the role in the fall of 2020.