A beauty pageant for all ages in support of a very worthy cause is returning to the Ritz Theatre in February for a final hurrah–and they are looking for contestants.

The Harley’s Angels Beauty Pageant for the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life in Butler County is set for February 11 in the historic downtown venue.

“This is our ninth annual RFL Pageant, and our final one,” says Harley’s Angel RFL Team Chair April Langford.  “Our Relay team is disbanding after this year, but I have told everyone that my fellow teammate Sherry Henson and I are going out with a real bang.”

There will be no less than 14 categories for potential entrants. “We have categories for everyone from newborns to great-grandmothers, yes, even men this year,” Langford says. “We had people asking about it, so we have added a womanless category for ages 18 and up.”

While their team is small, Langford and Henson will be far from alone on pageant day. “Every year, our friends and families pitch in to help make our events successful. When we started this, I said I wasn’t really a ‘pageant girl,’ but we somehow made it work and we have loved it,” Langford explains. “We’ve had as many as 156 contestants, but we average between 120-130.”

In additional to the “dudes-who-look-like-ladies” Mister Relay competition, the following categories are in place: Baby Miss (0-12 months), Tiny Tot Miss (13-23 months), Tiny Miss (2-3 years), Petite Miss (4-5 years), Little Miss (6-9 years), Junior Miss (10-12 years), Teen Miss (13-15 years), Miss Relay (16-19 years), Stunning Miss (19-25 years), Glamorous Miss (26-35 years), Elegant Miss (36-44 years), Golden Miss (45 and up) and the ever-popular Dance-Off (45 and up only).

The entry fee for contestants is $25 and the deadline for entrants is February 1.

While this may be the final Harleys Angels RFL Pageant, it certainly isn’t the end of Langford’s involvement with RFL, she stresses.

She says she still has good reason to Relay.

“I lost my dad John L. Anthony to lung cancer; my sister-in-law Daphne Anthony fought breast cancer and we are so glad she won,” Langford says. “Along the way, I’ve seen friends, family and neighbors who have been diagnosed and battled it; some have survived and some have lost their lives along the way . . . it’s about supporting your community and we’ve all been touched by cancer in some way. So I am still going to be involved with someone’s Relay team and helping raise funds, This is something I have a passion for.”

Tentative times for the pageant are 3 p.m. for newborns through age 5, and 7 p.m. for ages 6 years and up; depending upon the level of participation in all the categories, these times are subject to change, says Langford.

For more information about the pageant, contact Langford at 334-662-7171 or via email at harleysangels2016@gmail.com. All proceeds go to benefit the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life in Butler County.

And the upcoming pageant certainly won’t end the 2017 fund-raising activities for this ambitious “gurrrrl power” team, either.

“We have our sixth and final Benefit Bash set for March—and it’s going to be bigger and better than ever,” Langford says.

“You can follow our Facebook page at our Harley’s Angels Relay For Life Events Page for updates on all our events.”