This was it. The moment had arrived.

After weeks of planning and practice, Palmerton Area High School was about to crown its first ever Mr. Palmerton.

Four contestants stood on the stage. The third and second runners-up had already been named.

Josh Nenscel, the pageant’s emcee, asked the crowd to give him a drum roll before he revealed who would take home the title.

When Nenscel, Palmerton Area High School teacher and student council co-adviser, finally did read the name from the small white envelope in his hands, the crowd erupted in a thunderous applause.

But before that moment, 10 students had to put it all on the line, wooing the crowd with performance after stage-worthy performance during the school’s inaugural Mr. Palmerton Male Beauty Pageant, hosted by Palmerton high school student council.

“We’ve been practicing really hard,” Jacob Martinez, student council vice president and contestant, said. “Every day during like our study halls and our enrichment blocks, we’d been in there for like an hour going over our dances, going over our routines, thinking about our sketches.”

The pageant took place March 29. Contestants were judged in four categories: swimwear, talent, formal wear and question and answer.

Before the show, a video spotlighting all 10 contestants was posted on the Palmerton high school Facebook page, garnering more than 1,600 views.

The promotion proved fruitful, as more than half the school’s auditorium was filled with students and community members. Admission was $5 per person. All proceeds went toward supporting student council and school activities.

The competition was stiff. Martinez was up against nine of his fellow seniors: Matt Binder, Lucas Christman, Ben Netznik, Eric Keck, Cody Waterhouse, Chase Dailey, Aaron Stasko, Chris Fredericks and Mason George.

“They represent like, the whole student body,” Martinez said. “We have some athletes, we have some kids in drama, we have some really smart kids, so we have a good group to kind of like represent everybody.”

Aspirants to the crown kicked off the event with a series of choreographed dance numbers, tripping the light fantastic to tunes like Beyoncé’s “Crazy in Love” and Daddy Yankee’s “Gasolina.”

Then came the not your average, run-of-the-mill swimwear portion.

Martinez rode across the stage on a plastic surfboard. George belly flopped into a kiddie pool. Christman, alongside Emily Baumgardt, re-enacted the “Kiss the Girl” scene from Disney’s “The Little Mermaid.”

But once the two finally leaned in for the big smooch, their boat “tipped” over.

When it was his turn, Stasko made the most of his aquatic-themed act. After playing in a short lifeguard skit with Chloe Schaffer, he had two of his fellow contestants walk on stage and unravel a banner, which read: “Will you save my life and be my date at prom?” Schaffer accepted Stasko’s proposal.

Next was talent. Netznik had the crowd rolling with his stand-up comedy set. Dailey used his few minutes in the limelight to calm the crowd with a painting demonstration and Bob Ross impersonation.

Keck and Fredericks proved for the last time Friday night that “nobody puts Baby in a corner,” twirling on and off the stage in their own rendition of the iconic “Dirty Dancing” scene.

When it came time for the question and answer, the contestants had traded their costumes for suits. Nenscel posed the same question to all 10 hopefuls: If you could change one thing about your community, what would it be and why?

Fredericks’ answer pulled on a couple of heartstrings.

“Well to me, this community’s a pretty good one,” he said. “I’m going to have to say, I wouldn’t change anything in this community.”

But George had a different take.

“Well you see, there’s many things I would change about the community,” George said. “First off, I’d have to say the roads. They’re just terrible.”

After each contestant gave their answer, the competition was winnowed by six.

The four finalists — Netznik, George, Fredericks and Binder — were asked another question at random and judged for the effectiveness of their answer, the confidence in their delivery and overall presentation.

George was asked that if a genie offered to grant him one wish, what would his wish be? He wrestled with two different answers: fix Palmerton’s roads, or ask for world peace.

“That’s a tough one,” George said. “I’m going to have to go with the roads.”

When asked what makes him stand out from his three competitors, Netznik pointed to his hair — or lack thereof. A slight miscommunication with his barber, he relayed to the audience’s amusement, had resulted in a shorter-than-usual cut.

“She’s all gone right now,” Netznik said, rubbing the top of his head. “I think it really makes me stand out just a little bit.”

In the end, Netznik’s poise and humor — and maybe his haircut — put him on top, and he was crowned Palmerton

Area High School’s Mr. Palmerton for 2019. And while the night was full with laughs, if you ask the students who organized the pageant, it was more than just a comedy night.

“We’re kind of trying to get more people involved in student council as a whole, and realize that it helps with the whole entire school,” Payton Lesher, student council president, said.

“Palmerton’s a small town, and to be able to bring people from the whole community together to kind of celebrate everybody here is really awesome,” Martinez added.