Local mother, wife runs for Mrs. Michigan crown

REGION – Whitney Wellman was incredibly involved with pageantry this past spring, but not as a contestant herself. She was busy supporting her two daughters and niece in the Miss Kalkaska pageant.

Wellman’s niece Michaela Farnsworth took the title of Miss Kalkaska Preteen 2017 and Wellman’s young daughters Victoria and Scarlett competed as a Little Miss and a Tiny Tot.

“It was Victoria’s first year as a Little Miss contestant, so the first year she did a talent. She did wonderfully, but she was still a bit timid and shy, that’s her nature,” said Wellman about her oldest daughter.

Wellman wanted to give her daughter additional opportunities for stage practice so she went looking online for more pageants when she found something unexpected: a pageant for married women.

“I didn’t know that pageants existed for married women,” Wellman said, but once she was aware of the Mrs. America pageant she took it as an opportunity to empower her two young daughters.

“I think it would be really good for my girls to see me up there, to be able to think ‘if mom can do it, I can do it.’”

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