1955 Yukon Nuggets
Miss Canada From Whitehorse
'Put Whitehorse on the map' was the motto of the local Jaycees club back in the summer of 1955. They couldn’t find a better way of doing that than to sponsor a local woman in the Miss Canada pageant.
Dalyce Smith was the pride and joy of the Yukon in 1955. She was bright and beautiful. The Junior Chamber of Commerce had sponsored her entry into the Miss Canadian Rockies beauty pageant earlier in the year. She won and was dubbed Queen of the Rockies.
However, an even bigger prize awaited the Whitehorse resident. On July 1st, in London, Ontario, she was acclaimed Miss Canada and put Whitehorse on the map she did. Preparing for the event, she had brushed up on all aspects of the Yukon’s history and development potential, and she spent much of her time 'outside' correcting false impressions about the territory. She was quite the ambassador.
When she arrived back in Whitehorse on July 23, 1955, the Jaycees and the Junior Chamber held a gala welcoming ceremony at the airport, followed by a cocktail party and dance at the Whitehorse Inn Ball Room.
At the party, Maxine Dermondy read a poem on behalf of former and present members of Taylor and Drury’s, where Dalyce worked.
Our heartfelt wish has just come true
You went and did what we hoped you’d do.
We weren’t in doubt, not for a minute
We’d seen your stuff and knew that you’d win it.
Well maybe not in a league with Robert Service, but a fitting tribute to Dalyce Smith, who dazzled Canada and put the Yukon on the map in that summer of 1955.
A CKRW Yukon Nugget by Les McLaughlin.