'They are just talented people': Beloved 'Ms. Sun City Center' pageant returns after 18 years

SUN CITY CENTER, Fla. - The beloved Ms. Sun City Center pageant is back eighteen years later. The community revived the pageant hoping to celebrate the beauty of seniors and their love of volunteering. 

What we know:

Inside the Sun City Center Community Hall, ten senior women were shining on stage, and they were also showing that age is just a number. 

"I never sang until I moved down here to retire. I said I was going to get out there and do something adventurous," contestant Mary Anne Moseley-Sapia explained.

The backstory:

In 1992, a young man wanted to celebrate his mom, someone he thought was beautiful inside and out. 

Nancy McCall, part of the Sun City Center Community Association, said, "He said why are we watching kids who have done nothing, instead of older women who have done things in the community and changed people's lives?"

He created the Ms. Sun City Center pageant, a tradition that spanned another fifteen years. 

"It ran yearly alongside the Ms. Florida Senior Pageant," McCall explained. 

But in 2007, the lights on the stage went dark and the music stopped.

2007 Pageant Winner:

"Way back in 2007, I did not know that was going to be the last pageant," Former Ms. Sun City Center Laurie Klimeczko remembered. 

It was the last time someone was crowned Ms. Sun City Center, and that winner was Laurie Klimeczko. 

"I have been reigning for eighteen years," Klimeczko laughed. "It thought back then it would be one year."

Now, she's ready to hand over the crown to a new queen, celebrating what senior women bring to the table. 

She said, "This isn't just a beauty pageant, it's a celebration of age, grit, and vibrant contributions of senior women in our community."

The Pageant Returns:

Getting the pageant back up and running was possible thanks to the vision of Nancy McCall and the Sun City Center Community Association. 

"I said, well, I am thinking of doing Ms. Sun City Center and all the heads turned," she explained. "They said, what, you're bringing it back? And I was sucked in."

And even though she got a lot of questions, "some were like who wants to see a bunch of old women in bathing suits? I'm like you don't understand the premise of it, it's more than that."

She kept moving forward and all of that hard work paid off when the lights came back on and the music played again. 

The Contestants:

One of the women vying for the newest title included Mary Anne Moseley-Sapia. 

She said, "for it to finally come back, and I have an opportunity to do something I wanted to do so long ago."

She showed off her singing talent and why it's so important to volunteer in the community, which is a big part of this pageant. 

"This isn't about me, it's about all of us," she explained. "It's just a volunteer community of people over 55. Most are retired and come down and say I don't have to work anymore. What are we going to do now? Well, let's volunteer."

While winning was on all of their minds, it was about helping each other and showing what the community was all about.

"Whatever we can do for each other, hair, makeup, an adjustment on an outfit," Moseley-Sapia explained. "We are all in it together, we just want to have fun."

The Results:

After all the talent, glitz and glamour, Laurie Klimeczko finally got to crown a new Ms. Sun City Center. 

She got to slip the crown over Joanne Kerr's head. 

Kerr worked in administration before retiring and after, she joined several clubs in the community, including the Billiards Club, her HOA, and helps students with their reading levels. 

She will now carry on this legacy, showing off that no matter their age, they can do anything they put their mind to. 

"Made my husband go ziplining on an obstacle course, and he didn't know it was going to be over alligators," Moseley-Sapia laughed. "He was like, why do you make me do this? I just want to experience things before I'm not here anymore."

What's next:

The new Ms. Sun City Center will move onto the Ms. Senior Florida pageant and whoever wins that, will then move to the Ms. Senior America pageant. 

Hillsborough County