A photo exhibit that pays tribute to past beauty queens of Dumaguete City, the capital of Negros Oriental, is ongoing at the Robinsons Place shopping mall here.
The project has come to fruition after eight long years of hard work and difficult challenges, according to Marc Clifford Calumpang, this year’s chairperson of the Miss Dumaguete 2016 beauty pageant.
Miss Dumaguete Through the Years photo exhibit is part of this year’s search for the new titleholder, Calumpang said on Thursday.
The project was conceptualized more than eight years ago with Jessica Layumas and Penn Larena of the City Tourism Office toiling hard to do research, contact families and friends of the former beauty queens, and even talk to “historians” and the older generation to put together a compilation of all the Miss Dumaguete’s.
Calumpang said when he got involved in the project this year, he said the three of them agreed to launch it despite limited resources.
Most of the funding, which were minimal, came from private individuals and their own pockets, he added.
The project is to honor the past winners of the Miss Dumaguete search, dead or alive, Calumpang explained.
He said they have a list to complete, as there are many years that have not been filled up with the corresponding Miss Dumaguete titleholder of a particular year.
According to Calumpang, now that they have started the project, they hope to be able to craft a committee or a system where all Miss Dumaguete’s will documented as part of the city’s heritage and history.
Before Dumaguete became a city, the beauty queen was known as Carnival Queen. The title Miss Dumaguete was adopted after 1948.
The Mayor congratulated those behind the project, led by Jessica Layumas, saying this is the first time this has happened as he expressed hope that the list will be completed over the years.
“This is an important part of our heritage, and the photo albums of all the Miss Dumaguete’s pictures will speak of that,” the Mayor added.
Mayor Remollo also thanked some of the past beauty titlists who attended the launching of the photo exhibit late Wednesday afternoon. The photo exhibit will run until Nov. 22 at Robinsons Place. (PNA)
