High River's Chantel Bruins, formerly Chantel Wiebe, is this year's Mrs. Calgary.
"Oh my gosh, it was magical. I feel like everything went as perfectly as it could have. The jewellry drive went incredibly well. I surpassed my goal. They didn't even have a scale big enough to weigh it all."
Bruins raised about 60 pounds of jewelry for the Gems for Gems program that the pageant fully supports. Last year she raised 30 pounds for the charity.
On top of being crowned Mrs. Calgary 2025, the 25-year-old mother of a 3-and-a-half-year-old, cleaned up at this year's event, winning an additional five awards.
Having gotten married just one month before the pageant, this was her first time entering the Mrs. Calgary pageant.
She also won five other awards at the prestigious event.
"I won the charity award, for the second year in a row, Ms. Salesmanship for the second year in a row, and that's basically having the most amount of people come to the shows. And then I won the Ms. Photogenic award and Best in Evening Gown and Best in Live Question and Answer."
After winning all the awards, she still managed to hold back tears of joy and streams of mascara from running down her cheeks.
"Knowing how much effort went into it because I was the one who did my hair and makeup, I fought back the tears so hard, but I looked at my mother, and she was definitely letting them out for me. The next day, I was definitely a huge mess, but it was worth it," she said with a chuckle.
With her husband, son, and other family and friends in attendance, there was one little misstep moment, however, that became an endearing memory for her and her young son.
"On Friday night, I actually ended up taking a tumble down the stairs, and he was sitting right in the front row, and he ran up to me and gave me a hug, and it was a really sweet moment. I was so excited for him to be there again this year."
Bruins now gets to represent the pageant at a minimum of 12 events over the next 12 months, including fulfilling a bucket checklist, going in the celebrity dunk tank at this summer's Stampede Breakfast in High River.
"I'm doing that! I'm very excited, so on July 26th, you can come on down to George Lane Park and dunk me in the dunk tank at High River's very own Stampede Breakfast. It's going to be a very fun year, and then next July, I get to compete in Nationals for Mrs. Canada."
She also has her own charity you can support. Here's her Facebook link for more.
You can also now follow her social media postings on the Calgary Pageants webpage as she'll update you weekly on her events.