Waynesburg woman wins Miss Butler County competition, $1,000 scholarship
Waynesburg resident Bryn Patton, 22, won the coveted title of Miss Butler County at the 45th annual county-wide pageant, held Saturday night, Nov. 16, at the Succop Theater at Butler County Community College.
Along with her title, which she will hold proudly for the next year, she won a $1,000 scholarship through the Miss Butler County Scholarship Association.
“I’m still kind of in disbelief, but I’m very excited to hold the title of Miss Butler for the next year,” Patton said. “I’m really excited to compete at Miss Pennsylvania and hopefully bring the title home to Butler County.”
This isn’t the first pageant win for Patton, who also won the Miss Rain Day pageant in Waynesburg back in 2016. Patton also previously competed in the Miss Butler County Teen Competition.
“I’ve always known the organization to be very prominent within the community, and it’s something that I’m very proud to be a part of,” Patton said. “I always knew that I wanted to represent Butler County, and finally I get to do it.”
The other senior title, Miss Moraine State, went to Isabel Ruiz-Flint, who also received a $1,000 scholarship.
The title of Miss Teen Butler County went to Anna Comes, with Sidnee Neal winning the title of Miss Teen Moraine. Both won scholarships worth $500.
The four new titleholders will have the responsibility of representing the county at various events for the next year, including the Butler Spirit of Christmas Parade on Saturday, Nov. 30. As winners of the local pageant, they will also advance to the Miss Pennsylvania and Miss Pennsylvania’s Teen state competitions, to be held in June 2025.
“They will be making lots of appearances before 2025, and then throughout 2025 and after the state competition,” said event organizer Judy Hughes. “Unless they win the state. If they win the state, then they belong to the state (competition), and that means that they no longer have to make any appearances for us, but they appear all over the state. And of course, the winner of Miss Pennsylvania goes on to Miss America.”
Some Miss Butler County pageant winners have advanced to even greater success at the state level. One Miss Butler County winner, Heather Busin, eventually went on to become Miss Pennsylvania when she did so in 1997. Two Miss Teen Butler County winners, Tawni Darby, and Riley Evans, did the same by becoming Miss Pennsylvania's Teen in 2006 and 2019, respectively.
According to Hughes, Comes — who hails from Harrisville — is the only one of the four Butler County winners from Saturday who actually resides in the county. The Miss Butler County pageant is an “open” competition, meaning competitors from across the state are allowed to enter.
However, Hughes says that all four winners will become very familiar with Butler County soon enough.
“Everybody is going to get some knowledge of what Butler County is all about,” Hughes said. “I take them around Butler County and they have to answer some questions, so if there are any questions at the state competition, they can answer those questions.”
“It was my honor to judge the Miss Butler County Scholarship Organization’s competition tonight,” judge Steve Kalina, owner of Diva’s Beauty Works, said on Facebook. “These delegates were all extremely intelligent, well spoken, talented, and might I add, beautifully dressed young women, and did not make our job easy tonight.”
