SILVERHILL, Alabama --- Seventeen kindergarten and first grade girls will vie for the title of Little Miss Heritage Saturday afternoon in the gymnasium at Silverhill Elementary School.

“It seems incredible that we are now in our third year of the Little Miss Heritage Pageant, and I cannot thank our participants and their families enough for your continued support,” said Little Miss Heritage Pageant Committee Chair Christie Lyles.  “The momentum gained by the pageant has made it one of the premier attractions to Silverhill’s Heritage Day festivities in only three short years.”

Girls representing Rosinton, Elberta, Loxley, Silverhill, Robertsdale, Gulf Shores, Bay Minette and Central Chrisitian schools will be participating in the pageant.

Sponsors include Jared N. Lyles, P.C., Bestsouth, Coca-Cola in Robertsdale, A Personalized You, Neuschwander, Faircloth and Hardy, PC, United Bank and Driven Dance Company.

“As we do every year, we want to express our deep gratitude to the sponsors and volunteers that are back with us again, many of which have been with us from the beginning,” Lyles said. “But we also want to thank those who have come on board with the pageant for the first time this year. Because of the support we receive from these local businesses, we are again able to provide a fun, relaxed and quality pageant for our community.”

Pageant contestants will ride in the Silverhill Heritage Day Parade beginning at 9:30 a.m. Doors open at 3 p.m. with the pageant beginning at 4 p.m. at the school.

Little Miss Heritage 2011 Madison Williams will take her final walk before helping crown Little Miss Heritage 2012. Awards for first, second, third and fourth runners-up will also be handed out along with prettiest dress and most photogenic.

Proceeds from the pageant have been responsible for the construction of new play structure at Oscar Johnson Park, Lyles said.

“If you have not had a chance to go to O.J. Park, I encourage you to visit the park and see what a wonderful place that it has once again become thanks to the supporters of our pageant, the Town of Silverhill and the employees of the Town that have put in a considerable amount of time and effort into making O.J. Park a wonderful place for families in our area,” she said.

Lyles said she wanted to give a special thanks to the girls who are participating in Little Miss Heritage and the families that have supported them.

“This pageant was started to provide girls an event that could be enjoyed by the entire family,” she said. “We sincerely hope that this goal was accomplished for each of the families involved this year, and we hope that those who we were blessed enough to have in our pageant had as much fun participating as we did putting the pageant together.”