TORRINGTON – On Wednesday evening, members of the Torrington Lion’s Club Miss Merry Christmas committee conducted interviews with six young women from Goshen County in an effort to crown the 2024 Miss Merry Christmas. 

Since 1981, the Lion’s Club has helped spread the joy of Christmas through the pageant event and according to club member Val Grant, the Miss Merry Christmas candidate would assist the club and other organizations in community events throughout the month of December. 

This year, the panel of judges included Grant and fellow club members Keely Leo, Ann Marie Davis, Karen Wertelka, Kim Hattan and Jess Oaks, Torrington Telegram Managing Editor. 

Sarah Birdsall (17) a senior at Torrington High School was adorn with a robe, sash and crown to commemorate being selected for the community service position of Miss Merry Christmas. 

During the interview process, the panel of judges asked each young contestant a series of questions ranging from favorite Christmas memories to future times and dates of availability. 

“Hello,” Birdsall said to the table of judges as she made her way into a conference room of the Platte Valley Dentistry Office. “I have my cover letter and resumé if you guys would like it. There are some references here as well.”

Birdsall explained she is an active member of her local FFA chapter and she competed in the National FFA Organization’s Employment Skills Leadership Development Event, where she submitted her resume and cover letter as part of the event, at a state a national level. 

“I did mine in my FFA chapter. It was a contest at state FFA and I actually won it,” Birdsall said. “Then I went on to nationals. Employment skills was the contest. I needed my reference, cover letter, application and resume all attached together, and I had to submit that earlier than the national convention and then I interviewed at nationals. I loved it.” 

“We all have to do that when we apply for jobs so that is awesome,” Grant commended Birdsall. 

According to Birdsall’s cover letter, she learned about the club’s opportunity from a previous Miss Merry Christmas. She went on to explain her compassion and desire for leading younger members in organizations was not expressed in her resume of leadership skills. 

Birdsall noted she was a senior at Torrington High School in addition to taking college classes at Eastern Wyoming College with future plans.

“Right now, I am getting my associate’s degree at Eastern Wyoming College here and I am getting my business administration degree and next year I plan to transfer to Kansas State University and I’m going to major in either sales or marketing,” Birdsall explained. “I hope to get a minor within those four years in ag business.” 

The roles and responsibilities for Miss Merry Christmas are more than just a public appearance at the Torrington Lion’s Club annual Holiday Bazaar. They also include celebrating and helping the community of Goshen County share holiday cheer. 

“Our main Lion’s event is the Holiday Bazaar the Saturday after Thanksgiving,” Grant said. “Then the parade, it’s either the first or second weekend [in December] 

Birdsall plans on making the Miss Merry Christmas title her own because she has a “special touch.”

“I didn’t show on my resume or cover letter, but I am originally from New York and so I moved here a few years ago. I would say that New York really gave me the opportunity to look a different lifestyles and different aspects of life in the holiday season,” Birdsall explained. “Everyone views it so differently and I definitely think that from moving from New York, a big town, that it would give me my own aspects of Christmas and how to bring joy to others. Maybe I will be able to understand the younger kids, the adults in the community in a different way than some others might not be able to.”

Birdsall in involved in the National Honors Society, Phi Theta Kappa and FFA and her interests include FFA, golf, her faith and Hereford cattle.