WINSLOW — After four days of defiance, former pageant winner Molly Lybrook conceded her crown, dropping out of the race to be Winslow Miss 4th of July.

Lybrook, 17, of Fairfield, stepped down Wednesday night and decided not to be part of the parade or festivities this weekend after meeting with judges who scored pageant competitors, according to Leah Frost, the pageant organizer.

“I respect her decision,” Frost said.

But she added she wished both girls could share the crown. “I think she deserves to shine too.”

Lybrook was declared the winner Saturday, but was told the next day that the tally had been counted incorrectly and another contestant, Caitlin Grenier, 14, of Winslow, actually had won.

Organizers offered to crown both contestants as “co-winners” and give them equal billing with two sashes, two crowns and both riding in the pageant car at Saturday’s parade.

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But Lybrook rejected the compromise and refused to give up the crown.

In an interview with the Morning Sentinel earlier this week, Lybrook said she shouldn’t have to pay for someone else’s mistake and said Frost’s connection to Grenier, who is Frost’s sister’s friend, swayed the results.

Lybrook didn’t answer a phone call or an email on Thursday requesting comment.

The panel of judges went over their scoring with Lybrook at the meeting Wednesday to explain how the mixup occurred, Frost said. Frost said she wanted the judges to explain to Lybrook that Frost was not involved in scoring and couldn’t have rigged the pageant.

The mixup was a “small mathematical error” that happened when one of the pageant accountants forgot to carry the one on the score sheet for the final question for the top semifinalists, Frost said.

After talking to the judges, Lybrook decided to back out of the pageant entirely instead of sharing the crown, Frost said.

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“She’s upset. I understand. I would be, too,” she said. “Hurting people is not what I wanted to do. That’s why I wanted them to share.”

Frost, 21, was a pageant winner in 2008 and 2010 and has been active in the pageant for 10 years, three years as the lead organizer.

The pageant will update its scoring system next year to have two accountants triple-check results and might use a smartphone app to make sure everything is tabulated correctly, Frost said, so a mixup like the one this year won’t happen again.

Peter McGuire — 861-9239

pmcguire@centralmaine.com

Twitter: PeteL_McGuire


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