Fostoria Glass Pageant to benefit from 5K

FOSTORIA — When Fostoria brought back its Glass Pageant this year, it did so with the idea of "empowering young women through community involvement."And, what better way to empower someone than to allow for the creation of an event and the funding for it?The young Fostoria women who were selected to the glass pageant court in June began making their presence known at local events nearly immediately, and for fundraising purposes, they brainstormed a five-kilometer run-walk.The event, dubbed the Sparkle Stroll, will welcome runners, walkers and, yes, even youngsters in strollers, on Sunday in the area of lakes Lamberjack and Mottram in Fostoria. The event will begin at 10 a.m., after registration and check-in begins at 9 a.m., at the Gray Park shelter house, at the intersection of North Vine Street and West Park Drive. Online registration has ended, but walk-up entrants will be accepted and a limited number of event T-shirts will be available for purchase.Cash payments may be made in the mayor's office at the municipal building, 213 S. Main St., or onsite on the day of the event. The fees are $10 for adults and $5 for youngsters ages 4 through 17, with children 3 and under in a stroller taking part at no charge. "The Glass Pageant for the city of Fostoria came back in 2025, for the first time since COVID in 2020," said Glass Pageant coordinator Maddie Stearns, who is the administrative assistant to Mayor Don Mennel and Safety Service Director Eric Keckler. "Starting the court again Kind of left an opportunity for the girls to figure out new ways to raise funds to support events and support next year's pageant. So, one of the ideas the court came up with was hosting a 5K, but instead of just having an ordinary name, they wanted to make it something that kind of represented that group of young women. So, they came up with the Sparkle Stroll."While participants are encouraged to wear sparkling outfits, loose glitter is prohibited at the reservoirs.At the pageant's return in June, in the Wainwright Performing Arts Center at Fostoria Junior/Senior High School, Evelyn Guernsey was crowned glass queen and Cora Sheeks was selected as princess. Staysha Watkins was named petite glass princess, Journee Craddolph-Settles was honored as little glass princess and Mahleigh Dukes was tapped as wee glass princess."I think it was really good," Stearns said. "I think we had somewhere between 25 and 30 girls who participated, and that was a really good number for just coming back into it. I think since this was our first year back since 2020, next year we'll have even higher numbers because now more girls are aware of it and they see how fun it is for the participants."The next pageant is planned for the spring.Stearns said the pageant court's members have done well in the community since receiving their honors."This year's group has done a community clean-up, gone to farmers' markets, Heritage Day with the St. Wendelin Festival, Latino Fest, Lunch on the Lawn," she said. "I know they're planning on doing a lot more things around the holidays, kind of during school break and stuff. I'm definitely excited to have a group of excited girls who are willing to get out there. None of them have any problems at all with socializing in the community, so that makes it fun."