Miss Allegany County crowned Miss Maryland

Teresa McMinn

CUMBERLAND — Miss Allegany County 2019 Caitlyn Stupi will advance to the Miss America competition.

In addition to winning the top interview award, Stupi, 21, of Westminster, Carroll County, on Saturday was crowned Miss Maryland 2019.

More than 20 women from across the state competed in Hagerstown for the title.

“For me, (Stupi) exemplifies the Miss America program,” Beth Thomas Tanner, executive director of the Miss Allegany County Scholarship Program, said via text message. “She is well-rounded, intelligent, hardworking, talented, and dedicated to making an impact on her community.”

To provide “more opportunities for young women to compete and earn (a) scholarship, the Miss Allegany County/Cumberland program like many others across the state are designated as an open pageant,” Tanner said. “A contestant is able to compete for the open pageant titles if she lives, attends school or works in Maryland.”

No one from the Miss Maryland Scholarship Organization — including Stupi — was available for comment.

According to the Miss Maryland website, Stupi’s platform was “Common Cents: Promoting Youth Financial Literacy” and her talent was playing the cello.

Stupi recently posted of her gratitude for the win on her Miss Allegany County 2019 Facebook page.

“Thank you … for those who have put in the time to help me prepare for my cello selection,” she wrote.

After she was crowned, Stupi was presented a fox coat from Maryland Fur Trappers, Inc. As part of its educational outreach, the group hosts an annual trapper’s school in Garrett County.

“We do it every year,” MFT’s president, Dan Baker, said of giving a fur coat to the pageant winner each year.

Baker was at the recent Miss Maryland contest. He had never before been to one of the competitions.

“I didn’t know what all was involved," he said. "It was amazing.”

The tradition of giving a fur coat to the newly crowned Miss Maryland began 29 years ago.

“My father and I started it,” Boonsboro, Washington County, resident Ron Leggett said of himself and his dad, Pete, who died in 2004.

Before the Leggetts started gifting the furs for the annual event, a company loaned a coat to the pageant winner, who “had to give it back,” he said.

“They were elated they got to keep it,” Leggett said of contest participants starting in the early 1990s.

Prior to each Miss Maryland competition, the fur trappers host a presentation on wildlife management for the contestants.

“It’s an education ... teaches population control,” Leggett said. "(The contestants) ask questions ... are very receptive."

Each coat is made from roughly 20 red fox pelts, he said. Because the animals vary in color, many skins must be harvested to find enough that match each other before being sent to a coat designer.

One of the donated coats would typically retail for more than $4,000, Leggett said.

“We’re very proud of the years that we’ve done this,” he said of giving a coat to Miss Maryland. “It’s a lifelong gift.”

https://www.times-news.com/news/local_news/miss-allegany-county-crowned-miss-maryland/article_61f2c80c-1a23-56c5-9894-307bb29cf232.html