In the summer of 2009, the Miss Michigan Organization came to Anna Abdelnour and asked her if the Blossomtime Festival would be interested in hosting an open pageant preliminary in the Southwest corner of the state for Miss Michigan. “We were thrilled and honored to be a part of such a long-standing organization,” stated Board President Anna Abdelnour.
The Miss Southwest Pageant started in 1973 with Laura Mansfield from St Joseph earning the title of Miss Southwest. Throughout the years the Southwest program has had the guidance of many different Executive Directors. Currently serving the role of the Executive Directors are Anna Abdelnour and Jeffry Alisch.
The Miss Southwest pageant is a closed pageant for the young women of Berrien County, Van Buren County and Cass County between the ages of 17-25 years old. Seeing a need, the committee decided to add another pageant – Miss Sunset Coast. The Miss Sunset Coast Pageant is an open pageant for any woman between the ages of 17-25 and welcomes all young women in the state of Michigan to compete.
The Miss Southwest and Miss Sunset Coast pageants are the only pageants in the great Southwest that are a pre-qualifier/s to the Miss Michigan competition and follow the Miss America guidelines.
The Miss Southwest Scholarship Pageant and Miss Sunset Coast Pageants are the only pageants in the area signed with a licensee agreement with the Miss Michigan and Miss America Program.
Miss Southwest 