Small town girls Stephanie Clancy and Effie Ferguson have taken out the 1st and 2nd place respectively in the 2019 Land Sydney Royal Showgirl competition at this years Sydney Royal Easter Show.
Coming from the small town of Walbundrie in the Riverina district of NSW, Stephanie was honoured not only to claim the title, but to come and be a part of the whole experience.
“We rarely put in a showgirl because sometimes we just can’t find anyone, or there’s no one available to do it,” Stephanie Clancy said when asked what the showgirl process was at the hometown level.
“You just have to be yourself…you’re hanging out with so many amazing women and so many other people, people you don’t necessarily know at the start of the week but by the end of the week we’re all really good friends.”
When asked what she thought the criteria was for the ideal showgirl, Effie said she thought the judges were looking for someone who was across regional and bigger picture issues, as well as someone who genuinely enjoyed interacting with other people.
“They ask us about our understanding and opinion of topics such as the Murray Darling Basin, Brexit…it’s a matter of knowing what’s going on and potentially having an idea that might be able to improve the situation” she said.
“The most important thing I think that we’ve learnt this week is that it’s not about the competition, we didn’t come here to win…we weren’t studying or anything like that, we’re here to enjoy the week and experience this opportunity in Sydney.”
Stephanie and Effie are going to be enjoying their last days at the Sydney Royal Easter Show attending luncheons as well as other functions, before returning home on Thursday morning.
You can hear Nathan’s full interview with the girls here:
