LAKEPORT>>> The Mr. Lake County Pageant returned for another year, the 2025 competition serving as their seventh annual. The pageant was held in the Soper Reese Theater on July 12. The event, as in previous years, was a parody of the classic pageant featuring men as contestants. The event is a fundraiser for the Lake County Theater Company. They plan to build the Joshua Phillips-Blair Memorial Theater.
The event was also for an 18 and over audience with tongue firmly in cheek.
The pageant was directed, choreographed, planned, and co-created by Sarah Dutra who also introduced the previous Mr. Lake County victors like Gary Deas. Additionally, Dutra introduced the ballot counters and collectors.
Following the eight contestants taking part in a dance number, the pageant proceeded with a simple format: The audience voted after each competition for the two best competitors. The competitions ranged from talent to swimwear to evening wear and this was followed by a Q&A session. After each competition, votes were collected from the audience and counted at the end. The winners were then divided into categories and ultimately one was given the title and belt of Mr. Lake County.
It would be 24-year-old Austin Navarro who was victorious in the pageant. Although an employee at Guy Strohmeier’s Auto Center, it was a chance encounter that led him to competing.
“Dan Fossa came in, bought a truck from me, told me about it, and told me he was going to give my number to Sarah Dutra and she reached out to me and that was it.” Navarro explained after the pageant ended. He went on to remark that winning “…took a lot of time, effort, sweat, and baby oil.”
Winning was not the main objective of the pageant, however. It was mainly to entertain the audience and to have fun. Deas, aside from holding the title for six years (from 2017 to 2023), recalled what his favorite event was.
“The talent competition is the best part of the show. For all of the ones I’ve been in, I’ve been in three Mr. Lake Counties,” Deas said. “I’ve done talk, dance, been involved in putting them together with Sarah [Dutra], I’ve done a lot of different stuff and I’ve gotta say, the competition talent part is the best for me.”
As for Dutra, the pageant’s nature was to be a non-traditional fundraiser. It was an idea she had with LCTC’s Tim Barnes, to buy or build their own theater. The advantage of having a building separate from the Soper Reese would provide a personal space. It would also be a way to enrich the community and provide more for Lake County itself.
“I’m open to expanding to different venues, it’s an event where we’re raising funds, so we want people to be comfortable and I’m definitely open to different ideas of where we want to go.” Dutra stated earnestly. “The more people we can pack in the more money we raise for the theater company.”
Deas supported this view and cited how, “We’d love to always be at Soper Reese, but we can only do so many shows because the Soper Reese is booked a lot.”
