By By JAMES COLLINS / Niles Daily Star
NILES - The judges of the annual Mr. and Ms. Riverfest had the difficult task of choosing two winners from a field of 10 enthusiastic contestants.
Conrad Rader, a librarian at the Niles District Library, and Lisa Lidecker, an office manager at Patterson Dental Supply, were crowned to represent Riverfest at last night's kick off to the festival in front of a packed audience at the Riverfront Park amphitheater. Rader and Lidecker are both residents of Niles.
Tom Clabaugh and Melissa Prestine, also Niles residents, were named first runners-up and will join the winners on the Mr. and Ms. Riverfest 2004 raft in Saturday's "Anything That Floats" raft race.
The contest's three judges look for individuals who will best represent Riverfest in the community when determining who they will crown Mr. and Ms. Riverfest.
This year's panel of judges, Judy Stuller, Susan Patzer and Shelley Brademus, evaluated the five men and women on stage presence, personality and a brief interview, which was conducted on Tuesday night.
Linda Schultz, co-chairman of the event, said the deep pool of quality candidates was a big reason it was so much fun this year.
There was Elvis look-a-like Jacob Van Dyke and Niles dentist Bob Todd, who introduced himself by saying, "I don't have a great stage presentation" and then proceeded to go into a two-minute joke.
The four other candidates vying for the crown were Wendy Simanton, Angel Thrasher, Debra Solloway and Duffy Suseland.
The master of ceremonies for the pageant was radio personality "Wild Bill" Lewis from WYTZ in Benton Harbor.
Lewis asked each contestant a random question pulled from a hat.
The eventual Mr. Riverfest Rader was asked which famous living person he would like to meet and why?
He responded by saying Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry because he would like to talk with him about his world views and where he thinks our country is going.
The soon to be crowned Lidecker was asked what the topic would be, if she were scheduled to appear on Oprah Winfrey's show?
When Lewis asked how it felt to be crowned Mr. Riverfest, Rader joked about being a popular target when he wears his crown in Saturday's raft race.
The winners were awarded with $1,000 in gifts and prizes and the runners-up received $300 in prizes as well. Lynne Green, who has been chairman of Mr. and Ms. Riverfest since it began five years ago, was very pleased with last night's entertaining pageant.
She plans to mix things up for Mr. and Ms. Riverfest 2005 by making it a couples competition.