By Donald Wittkowski
Never say there is no such thing as beginner’s luck. Just ask Ginger Mumman.
Competing in her very first beauty pageant, the 10-year-old blonde was crowned Little Miss Ocean City 2018 on Friday night amid a crowded field of 27 contestants ranging in age from 8 to 12.
Appearing stunned when they called her name as the winner, she broke into tears of joy and continued to cry while Little Miss Ocean City 2017 Charlotte Erickson placed the silver tiara on her head.
“I’m so excited right now. There are so many emotions rushing through my head,” Mumman said while accepting hugs and congratulations from well-wishers.
Her parents, Christa and Patrick Mumman of Ocean City, seemed as surprised as their daughter.
“This is shocking,” Patrick Mumman said, shaking his head in astonishment. “This is the first time she’s ever entered a pageant. To hear her name called was a shock.”
Ginger Mumman, who will enter the fifth grade at the Ocean City Intermediate School in September, believes her classmates may be a bit shocked, too.
“I think they’ll say, ‘Whoa, how did you do it?’” she said with a laugh. “I can’t wait to see them. This is so amazing.”
Mumman displayed poise in front of the audience from the very beginning. When she came out on stage at the Music Pier to introduce herself at the start of the pageant, she reached for the microphone, but it slipped out of the stand into her hand. Without missing a beat, she calmly placed the mic back in the stand, announced her name and flashed a big smile.
“I was a little bit nervous when that happened,” she said of the loose mic. “But I got back on track and everything seemed to go better after that.”
Grabbing first runner-up honors was Annie Farrell, 10. Camryn Schultheis, 11, was second runner-up, Erin Coughlin, 11, was third runner-up and Makenna Fleming, 10, was fourth runner-up.
Contestants were judged on scholarship, talent, poise and an interview segment with the judges.
Mumman won the interview segment, but that portion of the pageant was conducted with the judges before the public part of the show got underway. For the talent segment, she performed a dance routine to the song “When I Grow Up.”
Mumman’s pageant duties in the next 12 months will keep her busy. Little Miss Ocean City joins with Junior Miss Ocean City and Miss Ocean City in parades and other promotional events for the town.
Mumman explained that she decided to enter a beauty pageant for the first time because she wanted to become an ambassador for a town she has grown to love.
“It’s amazing that I’ll be able to represent the town. I care about it so much,” she said.
The Little Miss Ocean City Pageant has been sponsored by the city’s Recreation Department for the past 28 years. Kristie Fenton, the pageant’s executive director, praised all of the contestants.
“In my mind, they are all winners,” Fenton said.
Erickson, Little Miss Ocean City 2017, was honored Friday in her last night as pageant queen. In her farewell remarks, she said that serving as Little Miss Ocean City allowed her to become “the girl I always wanted to be.”
“This year was the best year of my life,” she said.
