The annual Miss Independence Pageant of the Wiregrass will be at 6 p.m. June 6 at the We Piddle Around Theater in Brundidge.

The pageant is held in conjunction with the Brundidge Business Association’s annual Independence Day Parade the last Saturday in June. The parade route is Main Street USA and annually attracts a huge crowd of spirited patriots both in the parade lineup and cheering from the streetside.

The American Red Cross South Central Alabama Branch and the Brundidge Business Association sponsor the Miss Independence Day Pageant.

Jane Thrash, branch director, said this year’s pageant is one of the largest in recent years and the winners in each of the age divisions will be ambassadors for the Brundidge Business Association and also for the events at the We Piddle Around Theater.

“Our queens will promote the Independence Day activities in Brundidge on June 27,” Thrash said. “The Independence Day Parade will be at 9 a.m. and the queens will ride in it. They will be the hostesses for the Queens’ Tea that follows the parade and be available to answer questions about Brundidge and direct shoppers to the many shops in Antique City.”

Thrash said the queens will also promote events at the We Piddle Around Theater where a variety of folklife presentations are sponsored annually by the Brundidge Historical Society, including Alabama’s Official Folklife Play, “Come Home, It’s Suppertime.”

The first official duties of the 2009 Miss Independence Pageant of the Wiregrass winners will be to help promote the June 11-12 play, “Ivy Rowe,” which is an unforgettable story of loving and surviving, laughter and loss, centered around the time of the Great Depression.

Tickets for the Miss Independence Pageant of the Wiregrass are $5 and will be available at the door.