The board of directors of the Quarryville Teenage Club faced a quandary.

Being forced to cancel the Miss Solanco Scholarship Pageant for two straight years had the group at a loss. Ultimately, they found another way to provide scholarship money to deserving young ladies. It could signal the end of girls earning the title of Miss Solanco, but it's the beginning of opportunities for the students to be crowned Miss Southern Lancaster County or Miss Southern Lancaster County Teen.

Scott Peiffer is the president of the Quarryville Teenage Club, whose purpose was to fund and operate the annual pageant that took place at Solanco High School the Saturday after Thanksgiving. "We haven't had a (Miss Solanco) pageant now for the second year in a row," he said. "The reason is there's just a lack of contestants. We can't have a pageant unless we have six contestants. It costs too much. We can't do it. We've opened it up wider (to include high school juniors in addition to seniors) to try and get more girls, but there's just not the interest in it."

So the club went back to the drawing board to brainstorm ways to rejuvenate the event.

The first Miss Solanco Scholarship Pageant was held in 1956, and the crown was contested every year except for 2020, 2021, 2024, and 2025. Its future is in serious jeopardy. "It's a shame because it was, we had many, many girls come back and say how valuable that was to them," Peiffer said. "They loved it."

The Teenage Club attempted to recruit contestants through social media and by reaching out to local dance studios, but those efforts proved fruitless. "We finally got the point where like, what are we going to do here?" Peiffer said. "We're eventually going to run out of money because we pay insurance and the liability and that kind of stuff. It just costs us every year, and we don't have a pageant. The ticket sales is where you get your money from and the advertising in your program."

The Miss Solanco competition had earned a sterling reputation in the state pageant community. Several Miss Solanco winners went on to fare well in the Miss Pennsylvania contest. Peiffer's daughter, Marla, was a state runner-up. "The Miss America Organizations (MAO) has approached us already before about becoming a Miss America Organization scholarship pageant," Peiffer said. "We avoided it because I didn't really want to do that."

But the steep decline in the number of Miss Solanco contestants caused the Quarryville Teenage Club to reevaluate. The club had already developed a strong relationship with Miss Lancaster County system directors Reji and Audra Woods. "The idea resurfaced again, so we reached out and explained that we don't really know what else to do here," said Peiffer. "They said, 'We would love to have you help in some fashion.'"

Peiffer suggested the creation of a Miss Southern Lancaster County title, with the scholarship money furnished by the Quarryville Teenage Club. The Miss Lancaster County system was happy to accept. Miss Southern Lancaster County and Miss Southern Lancaster County Outstanding Teen titles were awarded during the Miss Lancaster County pageant in Ephrata on Sept. 27. Christina Herman was crowned Miss Southern Lancaster County, and Susannah Schelling was named Miss Southern Lancaster County Outstanding Teen.

"It seems to work, and I think we're going to continue to do this," Peiffer said.

State residents are eligible to compete in any Pennsylvania MAO competition, and neither winner is from the Southern End, but Christina and Susannah will attend local activities. "We had a little reception, and they are two wonderful, wonderful girls, and they're willing to try and represent the Southern End at events," Peiffer said. "We tried to salvage what we could, rather than just say, 'OK, we're done.'"

Peiffer is hopeful that students from Solanco will enter future Miss Southern Lancaster County competitions. "Hopefully we can get some girls from Solanco High School," Peiffer said. "I think that's the thing that what I would want to stress, that the girls in the district can compete next year. Hopefully from here on out, you know, a couple of kids from here will go and try. That'd be great. We'd love it, and the club would be very supportive of them."

He is pleased with the debut of the new titles. "We've known Reji and Audra because our girls were in the system before," said Peiffer. "Our daughter was in the system. I audited at their pageant one year. They are super nice people, really good with those kids. It was a good fit, and they were absolutely ecstatic that we would support them with that."