Port Vila's Beauty Queen and King

Ms. Denis Maki, 19 of Paama-Tongoa parentage is the new official, Miss Port Vila Municipality 2015.

And Mr. Florida Salwar, 21, of Malekula-Santo parentage is the winner of the first ever Mr. Port Vila Municipality title 2015.

Both were crowned at an event in late November last year at Saralana Park in Port Vila.

In second place, Miss Port Vila Runner Up was Lisa George, 19 from Emau, off north Efate and Mr. Port Vila Runner Up was Quinton Garae, 21, from Ambae.

As an evening highlight to celebrate the opening of Port Vila Day, the public march began much earlier in the morning at TVL House to Saralana by the VMF, Municipal Police, PVMC staff and custom dancers.

Port Vila Mayor, Ulrich Sumptoh acknowledged in his official speech the hard work of former Municipal officials who had work hard to improve Port Vila and after a successful year, the Council had improved avenues to help generate revenue to run its own operations and help reduce debt.

At the pageant, over 12 final contestants competed over 2 hours in four categories which included Introductory Presentation, where they flaunted Tropicool’s new summer collection, custom wear, beach wear and evening wear with interview.

Hosted by Arthur Knight and Fashion on the Field Hostess, Anne Danchos, the beauty pageant sought to find Port Vila’s new goodwill ambassadors who would be a light for the community to help Vanuatu move forward.

“The country has gone through a challenging time and it’s time to bring back positivity into light by boosting morale and hope for a better future. As Vanuatu is the happiest place in the world, Miss and Mr Port Vila will be a pillar of strength, hope, inspiration, positivity and development for the community,” said the hosts.

With an action packed crowd at Saralana Park, the event kicked off at 6pm with performances from Poe Rava Rava and theme song from Tujah and Karina “I Am Resilient” which coincided with the Port Vila Day theme “Rebuilding A Resilient Port Vila” with surprise Guest, Brada Cloud.

The results were determined by a 10 member judge panel comprising of top officials from Vanuatu Tourism, media, telecommunication, the fashion industry, civil society and Municipality.

They included VTO GM, Linda Kalpoi, Digicel Marketing Boss, Florence Bellon, Owners of Tropicool and Carla Boutique, Michelle, David Bourie, Marie-Louise and Jenny Regenvanu from Flora Bunda. Amongst the panel of judges was also a fashion designer from Chile that surprised the crowd.

GM Vanuatu Tourism, Linda Kalpoi said that “this is a great event and boosts tourism greatly. All contestants have met the criteria and it is a very impressive lineup of contestants, as so that judges had a very hard time to deliberate.”

The final contestants were : Miss Port Vila — Denis Maki, Evalne Timothy, Adeline Aru, Andrea Toka, Serah Tama, Larisa Taiwia, Lilian Tasso, Lisa George, Natasha Jessy, Ileen Simon : Mr Port Vila : Reyelio Pakoa, Florida Salwar, Allan Kenneth, Quinton Garae and Budz Nicolles.

With six (6) titles each for each category, the winners were:

Mr Evening Wear — Quinton Garae

Mr Beach Wear 2015 — Floria Salwar

Mr Custom Wear 2015 — Quinton Garae

Runner Up — Quinton Garae

Mr. Port Vila Municipality 2015 — Florida Salwar

[ Port Vila KING ]

Miss Congeniality 2015 — Denis Maki

Miss Evening Wear — Natasha Jessy

Miss Beach Wear 2015 — Lisa George

Miss Custom Wear 2015 — Denis Maki

Runner Up — Lisa George

Miss Port Vila Municipality 2015 — Denis Maki

(Also Miss Seaside Independence)

[Port Vila QUEEN ]

The best crowd evening highlights was when Mr. Port Vila, Florida Salwar, who was also a stocky toned body builder, very confidently wowed the crowd with his shiny bulk muscles in the Custom and Swim Wear Category and Lisa George in the women’s swim wear segment when she stripped off her sarong to reveal a beautiful fluorescent 2 piece orange swim-suit that drove the crowd wild, a cut compared to Halle Berry in 007 James Bond Movie “Die Another Day”.

The Winners ran away with special diamond studded tiaras and King crowns that arrived early Saturday morning from New York, America and Sydney, Australia, sashes, bouquets from Florabunda, trophies and a cash prize from PVMC.

Miss Port Vila and Mr Port Vila Municipality’s first assignment will be a new lucrative contract to model and promote the Kava Eporium’s new Black Honey product on line, a new fascinating product that blends in kava with local honey, marketing as “a bit of a slower morning”.

Town Clerk, Ronald Sandy who addressed the event before the crowning said that, “he was very proud that the launch of the first ever beauty pageant was a great success and attracted a lot of sponsors, judges and members of the public.

“This will be an annual event so thank you everyone and see you in 2016.”

The successful beauty pageant was the first ever organized by the town Council and was the highlight of the 2-day Port Vila Day Celebrations, Sunday being Unity Day focused more on religious activities.

Port Vila Princess, Nerida, 11, from Kawenu School, who was crowned earlier in the afternoon said she wanted to “become a lawyer to fight for people’s rights” and Port Vila Prince, Nathan, 11, from Vila East School said he wanted to become a pilot to help travellers reach places they wanted to go to.

The event ended with the Mayor’s Cocktail beside the stage.

Miss-Mr. Port Vila will now be an annual event in support of the Pikinini’s Association.

A DVD of this event will be released shortly and available at the Port Vila Municipal office.

Mr and Miss Port Vila will be the new face of Black Honey, the latest kava export product out of Kava Emporium marketed as “a bit of a slower morning”.

They will also grace the first issue of Yumi2 — Vanuatu’s First Fashion and Music Magazine for youth retailing this month.

A big thank you to the following sponsors for making the event a success :

Port Vila Municipal Council — Rebuilding A Resilient Port Vila

ABM Group — The Best Service You’ll Ever Get (Tassiriki Open Monday 30 Nov)

Digicel — Vanuatu’s No. 1 Network

TVL — Vanuatu’s No. 1 Telecom — Mekem Life i Isi

YTS Social Media — Vanuatu’s Biggest Online Group

Sun Production — Vanuatu’s No. 1 Printery

Paradise FM — Simply The Best

TBV — Television Blong Vanuatu

96 Buzz FM — Today’s Best Music and News

Kava Emporium — New Black Honey

Bred Bank Vanuatu

Pacific Suppliers

Tropik Sounds (Benson Nako) – Sound and Lighting

Daily Post — Vanuatu’s Only Daily Newspaper

Tropicool and Carla Boutique — No 1 Fashion Shop

A thank you by organizers is also conveyed to everyone else that helped to make the event a great success.