The newly crowned Little Mister Italian Fest said there’s one change he would like to make to his title.

“Leave out the ‘little’ thing,” he said. “I’m 8 years old, come on.”

Andrew Hilmes, 8, was the oldest contestant in this year’s Little Miss and Mister Italian Fest pageant, held Saturday. Gabriella Hill, 7, won the title of Little Miss Italian Fest and will join Andrew in the Italian Fest parade Saturday, Sept. 20.

Andrew said he’s “pretty much” excited to be in the parade, and he has a plan when it comes to handing out candy from the Italian Fiat in which he’ll be riding.

“Like right next to me, I’m gonna put a little stash of candy that I need. Not really need, I’m just gonna take some — just a few handfuls — [and] just give the rest to everyone,” he said.

Andrew said if there’s any bubblegum or candy bars, he will probably sneak a few of those.

To celebrate his crowning, Andrew said he was going to have a party with his family.

“We’re gonna go home and we’re gonna get some ice creams, we’re gonna go get a Slurpee, and then we’re gonna have a party at home,” Andrew said.

Gabriella said she was going to celebrate with an Italian dessert.

“Mom said she’d give me three [cannoli] if I won,” she said.

Gabriella said she wanted to enter the pageant “because I think it was my last chance of winning, and I like pageants and winning them.”

Her mom clarified that it might be Gabriella’s last chance because of her age. Only children 4 to 8 years old can enter the competition.

Despite her age, Gabriella is a seasoned veteran of Collinsville’s pageant scene. She has also won the titles of Little Princess Tomato in the Catsup Bottle Festival and Little Miss Horseradish in the Horseradish Festival.

She’s excited to win the Little Miss Italian Fest title because she is Italian.

The pageant included a production number, which was choreographed with the help of the Lindenwood Dance Team — Andrew’s and Gabriella’s favorite part of the night. Each of the nine contestants were also asked to recite one fun fact about Italian Fest, answer one question about themselves and perform a talent for the audience and judges.

Andrew showed his personality in the talent portion of the pageant by telling jokes.

“I joke around with my friends, too,” he said. “I learn [jokes] from books and sometimes I make ‘em up.”

One joke that Andrew made up starts with, “What did the penny say to the other penny?” The answer: “You make no cents.”

Gabriella sang “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” for the talent portion. She said she’d like to be a singer when she grows up.

All who participated in the Little Miss and Mister Italian Fest Pageant helped benefit the rehabilitation and reopening of the historic Miner’s Theatre. But first-year pageant coordinator Kendra Ellis said fundraising for the theatre isn’t the only reason for the pageant.

“The reason we do it is not just to raise money. Honestly, this might be the first year in a very long time we actually made any money, but it goes straight to the theatre so it’s phenomenal. It’s really just to build self-esteem,” Ellis said.

Ellis said the Little Miss and Mister Italian Fest Pageant isn’t a beauty-based competition. She wants the children, who are not allowed to wear makeup, to have fun, Ellis said.

“I want them to hold on to their youth,” Ellis said. “We try to make sure that everybody gets a medal, some sort of participation medal, just to say, ‘Thank you for being in the competition.’”

The focus of the pageant isn’t on contestants’ outfits or their ability to recite information flawlessly. It’s about personality, Ellis said. There is a scoring system, but it doesn’t determine the winner.

“It’s really just about which one is the most outgoing and shines and things like that,” Ellis said. “Really, [the judges] just get together and decide who they think should win.”

In addition to Andrew and Gabriella, the 2014 contestants were Brooklynn Corrie, Reyenne Bair (finalist), Mia Faith Muniz (finalist), Ella Niemeier, Lily Stacy (finalist), Layla Wilkerson and Kinley Heath.

Ellis said despite putting up flyers in various locations across town, including libraries and churches, and talking to schools and daycares about the pageant, only nine children registered this year.

“I think it’s just the reputation that the pageant has had in the past … just that it was a little bit disorganized is all. That’s really it,” Ellis said.

Another factor impacting the low participation is that the pageant wasn’t always associated with Italian Fest, Ellis said.

“It’s been associated with just the Miner’s Theatre,” Ellis said. “I’d like people to think of Little Miss and Mister Italian Fest as a great kick-off to the Italian Fest because it hasn’t been in years past. We’d like to see 30 or 40 kids next year, which is why we picked this venue [Navigation Church] because we wanted to be able to hold all those children.”

Anyone interested in registering their son or daughter for next year’s pageant can find the applications on the Italian Fest Website, italianfest.net, in just a few months.

“I think this was definitely one of the best year’s we’ve had and I know what we can do better next year,” Ellis said.

See this year’s winners at the annual parade, which will take place at 4 p.m. Saturday. Andrew will throw candy from an Italian sports car and Gabriella’s car will feature headlight eyelashes.

The parade travels Main Street from Hesperia to Seminary, before turning north on Seminary and continuing on West Clay. The theme this year is “eat up, Italian style.”