Pasadena girl wins national toque design contest

Pasadena girl wins national toque design contest

Fashion designers dream of having their designs make the big time, a dream that's come true for a young skier from Pasadena who won a national art contest.

"I thought it was pretty cool because, like my drawing, people chose it because it was so good," said Eva Parr, 9, winner of the 2016/17 Cross Country Canada (CCC) Jackrabbit Toque design contest.

Her winning design will be featured on next year's official Jackrabbit ski program toque and handed out to the 11,000 Jackrabbit skiers across the country.

"It's really cool having people wearing my hat that I designed," Eva told CBC's Corner Brook Morning Show.

"They're gonna send it as soon as it's done, and then I'm gonna be the first kid in Canada to wear it."

Winning design

Eva, who's been skiing for three years, found out about the contest through her ski club, Pasadena Ski & Nature Park.

She said she does a lot of drawing and thought she'd give it a shot.

"I came up with a moose design. It's a moose on skis, and having fun," Eva said.

"I thought of Canada and lots of things come to mind when you think of Canada, and I just thought maybe a moose on skis would be pretty cool"

After submitting her drawing, it was chosen as one of ten finalists across Canada in the running for top honour.

The winning design was then decided by an online national vote, with only members of CCC eligible to vote.

"I thought it was pretty exciting because I was like 'maybe I could win, it'd be so cool to have your own design on a hat that millions of people would wear.'"

'Proud and excited'

Evas' mother, Norma Parr, found out about the win after it was posted to the CCC's Facebook page on March 30, and said the excitement was hard to contain.

"I was just like, 'oh my goodness, I won', and then we started calling family members and telling them I won," said Eva.

"There was some screaming for sure and some dancing." said Norma.

"We've just been so proud and excited and it's been amazing all the support from our family and friends and just random people across Canada … It's like a little family at the park and they're very supportive of all the kids and very excited."

This was the fifth consecutive year the CCC held the toque design contest.