Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Men prep for pageant

Gurdon men will soon be sifting through their significant others best apparel to look their prettiest.

Are Gurdon men catching up to their drag queen counterparts in San Francisco? Or do they have something else up their sleeve?

The answer: theyre trying to raise money to give juniors and seniors from Gurdon High School the opportunity to see the inauguration of the next President of the United States in Washington, D.C.

The opportunity for these students to go to the nations capital has been an annual trip for the Gurdon Close-Up program since 1988, according to Gurdon High School history teacher Misty Calley.

Close-Up is a civic education program intended to teach the students about the workings of the government and for them to see firsthand how it works.

The students in Close-Up tour through the capital and see the Washington monument, the White House, Lincolns Memorial and the Capitol building.

Not only do they take the tour, but they visit with their Congressman on Capitol Hill, sit in on seminars led by Washington insiders that give them an idea of what goes on behind the scenes, witness the House of Representatives and the Senate working, go to committee meetings and have study visits where they visit different neighborhoods around Washington. These events happen every year, but this will be the first time the program has been invited to an inauguration.

To raise money, the Close-Up program has organized a beauty pageant ... for men. The pageant, officially dubbed The Pretty WoMan Pageant, will be held Saturday, March 29, at 6 p.m. in the Gurdon High School gymnasium.

Admission is $5 per person, and all proceeds will go toward the fund for Close-Up members to go on the trip.

Gurdon is one of a few schools in Arkansas (and the only school in Clark County) with the Close-Up program.

So far, 20 Gurdon men  mostly loggers  have signed up for the pageant. To sign up, fill out an application at Dougs Grocery Store or call 353-2240 for more information.