The 22nd Annual Miss Food City Pageant was held on Saturday, October 11th at the historic Paramount Center for the Arts in Downtown Bristol.  Each year, the pageant showcases young women from across the region.  Saturday evening, 11 contestants entered the beautiful Paramount Center for the Arts in hopes of winning the coveted title.

When the moment arrived, Kassie Marie Perkins of Harriman, TN  was crowned Miss Food City 2015.  "I am very fortunate to be partnered with and representing a company whose desire is to better the communities it serves,” says Perkins.  “I am ready to hit the ground running as Miss Food City and am ecstatic to see what wonderful things this year will hold."

Perkins is a 21 year-old student at Tennessee Tech University and is employed as an Accounting Intern at McLinc.  She enjoys traveling aboard, serving as a Tennessee Tech University Ambassador, spending time with her younger siblings, skydiving and teaching Southern Belle classes to middle and high school girls.  Her platform is childhood literacy.  Over the past year, Perkins has read to over 60,000 students, while encouraging strong literacy skills and a passion for education.  She is the published author of a children’s book entitled, “Where There is a Will, There is a Way”.  Perkins recently traveled to Zambia, Africa to work with the country’s orphans.  While there, she met ten orphan girls who are now in stable housing and attending school, due to her benevolent work and the support of sponsors.  Perkins plans to graduate from Tennessee Tech in May of 2015 with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Accounting and aspires to obtain a Masters of Business Administration degree in May of 2016.     

Perkins will represent Food City during its sponsorship of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Food City 500 and the Nationwide Series Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway and other race and company related activities throughout 2015.   

“We would like to thank each of our contestants for their participation in the Miss Food City Pageant and commend them for their many talents and accomplishments,” said Steven C. Smith, Food City president and chief executive officer. “We are extremely proud to have Kassie  representing Food City in the coming year, as I’m confident she will be an excellent spokesperson for our company.”

First runner-up was Jessica Larkin of Mount Carmel, TN.  Second runner-up was Megan Grace Stanley of Abingdon, VA.  Kassie Perkins was also selected as Miss Photogenic. Perkins succeeds Kayla Neikirk of Watauga, TN who held the title of Miss Food City 2014.

The annual pageant was directed by the ladies of the Twin City Woman’s Club, with event proceeds benefitting their sponsored projects and charities.  “We would like to thank everyone who worked to make the pageant such a huge success, especially the members of the Twin City Woman’s Club for doing such a tremendous job directing the event, as well as WXBQ and Reggie Neel, the Paramount Center for the Arts, our performers and, of course our Food City associates and the many others who volunteered their time and talent to assist with the pageant,” added Smith.

About the Miss Food City Pageant

The first pageant was held in the Bristol Mall in 1992.  Former winners include Janet Barton - 1992 & 1993, Meredith Blankenship – 1994, Tracy Wilson – 1995, April Elswick – 1996, Lisa Tollett – 1997, Christin Wilson – 1998, Erica Hembree – 1999, Amanda Greene – 2000, Misty Horn – 2001, Ronna Compton – 2002, April Owens – 2003, Kimberly Coen – 2004, Megan Ashe – 2005, Mally Gent – 2006, Britney Hagy – 2007, Jennifer Whittington – 2008, Lindsey Blevins – 2009, Melissa O’Neal – 2010, Elizabeth Robinette – 2011, Ginny Cole – 2012, Alex Honeycutt – 2013, Kayla Neikirk – 2014.

Headquartered in Abingdon, Virginia, K-VA-T Food Stores operates 106 retail food outlets throughout the tri-state regions of Southeast Kentucky, Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee.