This year's Fall Fest, on Friday, Sept. 14, will offer something more than music to students in attendance.
The Student Association and the University Unions and Activities Board is sponsoring the "Miss UB Contest," which will take place between each musical act during set changes. Ten female students will compete in the categories of formal wear, swimsuits and school spirit, the latter category requiring the contestants to design a costume and performance act to promote school spirit.
"[The contest] is an opportunity to show school spirit and entertain the crowd when normally, nothing would happen," said SA President Christian Oliver.
Oliver explained that SA had been brainstorming ideas for activities that would encourage audience participation, like the "Battle of the MCs" at last year's Spring Fest.
Keith Hessian, music coordinator for the UUAB, said he anticipates the Miss UB Contest will resemble "Miss America meets MTV's Spring Break."
Four judges, who have yet to be selected, will rate participants on a scale of 1 to 10 in each category. The three young women who acquire the most points will be named finalists and appear before the audience, who will be instructed to cheer for the contestant they wish to become Miss UB.
The finalist who receives the greatest response from the audience will take home the Miss UB crown, accompanied by a first-prize award of $750. The second-place winner will be awarded a prize of $250.
SA Vice President Joshua Korman described the Miss UB Contest as one of SA's marketing schemes to lure people to Fall Fest who otherwise might have no interest in attending.
"We will have 10 people who will bring out as many people as they want to cheer for them," said Korman. "We want the audience to cheer a bit louder and get more into it."
Last Friday originally marked the deadline for prospective contestants to submit applications for participation in the contest, but due to a lack of earlier publicity and low turnout of applicants, SA has extended the deadline to 4 p.m. Tuesday.
After completing the application, prospective contestants will undergo an interview. The interview will assess the young women's comfort level on stage, the quantity of people they will bring to Fall Fest and whether they will be entertaining while they're on stage.
SA will contact the contestants selected to compete in the contest Tuesday at 7 p.m. This Wednesday, students will have the chance to meet the Miss UB Contest contestants during the SA Day event, taking place on the North Campus Promenade, located in front of the second floor of Norton Hall.
Depending on the level of success of the Miss UB Contest and Fall Fest 2001 as a whole, SA will consider engaging the contest winner for further promotional activities, said Korman.
"The following issue of Visions (SA's newsletter) will have a big spread on Miss UB and we'll try to get her as much exposure as possible," he said.
SA was unable to hold a counterpart "Mr. UB Contest" for students who would prefer to see men strutting their stuff on the Fall Fest 2001 stage. According to Korman, holding such a contest would be unfeasible, due to the fifteen-minute time limit for the contest between each set.
"There's been a lot of interest in a Mr. UB pageant and it's something that will be looked into in the future," said Korman.
