Connections

Photos: Ms. Lake Lemon pageant returns with mud dives, lawnmowers, and fancy dresses

Saturday’s second annual Ms. Lake Lemon competition mixed fancy dresses with frozen T-shirts, lawnmower driving, watermelon-seed spitting, and mud-pool dives at Riddle Point Park. The quirky fundraiser for Monroe County firefighters went ahead despite threatening skies and light rain.

Ms. Lake Lemon Pageant 2026 (Kathryn Coers Rossman, May 16, 2026)

Saturday’s (May 16) second annual Ms. Lake Lemon competition blended pure quirk with community fundraising, as a dozen women, all 37 or older, put on fancy dresses and competed in a series of off-beat challenges.

Feats of physical skill included a frozen T-shirt contest, watermelon-seed spitting, lawnmower driving, and dives into a baby pool filled with synthetic mud. Organized by Bloomington artists, performers, and community volunteers, the event raised money for the Monroe County Fire Protection District.

The competition took place in Riddle Point Park on the shore of Lake Lemon in the northeastern part of Monroe County.

Despite ominous forecasts leading up to Saturday, the weather itself mostly cooperated. Contestants and spectators gathered under threatening skies that produced only occasional light rain, which was not enough to wash out the festivities.

Organizers said the forecasts for bad weather likely hurt attendance. But the images below from photographer Kathryn Coers Ross prove the atmosphere was still upbeat.