MARK WAITE / PVT Ms. Senior Golden Years 2006 Sharon Cahlan, at left, poses with a past queen and fellow member of the Nevada Silver Tappers, Mitzi Sears, during an engagement at the Mountain View Casino. Advertisement

Since winning her crown, Ms. Senior Golden Years 2006 Sharon Cahlan has had a whirlwind of engagements, enough to tire out much younger pageant winners.

On Thursday she was handing out awards to winners of a summer raffle drawing at the Mountain View Casino. Two days later it was an appearance at the Pahrump Valley Cruisers blood drive at the Pahrump Community Center.

The week before, Cahlan helped open the Senior Olympics at the Cambridge Senior Center in Las Vegas, where she posed with U.S. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev.

Cahlan, the wife of longtime Pahrump attorney Forest Cahlan, said she looks in the newspaper for different events, or her manager, B.J. Hetrick-Irwin will line up engagements for her.

"I want people to know once you're 60 years old life isn't over," Cahlan said. "I'm kind of a PR person. I was the PR person for the Nevada Silver Tappers. So I'm not afraid to ask."

The Tappers are a dance group composed of senior women who put on a lot of performances for charity, headlined by a Christmas show in December.

Cahlan won the Ms. Senior Nevada title in June. She danced her way through the talent competition with a contemporary Flamenco style routine, "Sway," performed by the late actor Dean Martin. The pageant is open to women 55 years and older.

"It's not about winning, it's about the friends you make in the pageant," Cahlan said. "One of my goals is to hit the senior centers. I was up in Beatty the week before last."

Cahlan traveled to Beatty with her queen's court. Cahlan said she receives an enthusiastic welcome from other seniors.

"They think it's wonderful. They want us to come back," she said.

Cahlan will have a busy schedule this month with the Western Folk Life Extravaganza and the Pahrump Fall Festival. She's been asked to draw the winning ticket for the $10,000 Pahrump Rotary Club giveaway and will, of course, ride in a float during the fall festival parade. The 2006 Ms. Senior Golden Years will also announce the winners of the Idol competition at the fall festival.

Cahlan's theme this year will be taking care of pets, a salient issue this month, with concerns at the county level over kennel operations.

Cahlan, with her exuberance and vivaciousness, seems to embody the creed for the Ms. Senior Nevada Pageant, which states:

"Senior years are golden years and we are here to share; all that life has given us through dignity and tears. We wake each day with a smile on our face; holding life close in our living embrace. Our spirit delights each moment we spend with the warmth of our family and friends. We'll share our joys and pleasures it's what we can bestow; to enhance the life of those we love and watch their happiness grow."