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<p>PITTSTON TWP. &#8212; A township family is heading on a trip to Fiji after their baby girl with big blue eyes won a national cuteness contest.</p><p>Ten-month-old Ophelia Love Mecadon won the &#8220;Live! with Kelly and Ryan&#8217;s&#8221; Oh Baby Contest on Friday.</p><p>&#8220;People have always told me that Ophelia should be a model,&#8221; said Ophelia&#8217;s mother, Simone Mecadon. &#8220;We watch the show every day. When we heard about the contest, my husband and I figured why not, let&#8217;s see what happens.&#8221;</p><p>The contest began in May, and it was announced Ophelia won on Friday the 13.</p><p>&#8220;Honestly, we forgot about the contest,&#8221; said Ophelia&#8217;s father, Francis Mecadon. &#8220;My wife didn&#8217;t know if she submitted the photos and information correctly.&#8221;</p><p>The Mecadons did in fact submit everything the contest requited correctly.</p><p>The week of June 29, the show featured 100 cute babies and showcased 20 of them each day. Ophelia, the blue-eyed baby made her national television debut on June 29 and earned her place in America&#8217;s heart.</p><p>The nation had the opportunity to vote for the top 10.</p><p>&#8220;When we saw Ophelia made the top 10, that was like winning to me,&#8221; Simone said. &#8220;Then the staff picked the top five.&#8221;</p><p>The Mecadon family watched the Oh Baby Contest at the Keystone Dental Center in Scranton where Ophelia&#8217;s father is a dentist.</p><p>&#8220;We actually couldn&#8217;t watch &#8220;Live! with Kelly and Ryan&#8221; right away,&#8221; Francis Mecadon mentioned. &#8220;President Trump was giving an out-of-the-blue press conference.&#8221;</p><p>Mecadon continued: &#8220;Lucky for us, the press conference ended, and we saw them announce Ophelia as the winner.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;The entire roof almost blew off from excitement between the Mecadons, patients and workers at the dental practice,&#8221; Simone said.</p><p>Simone mentioned that in the midst of all the commotion, Ophelia was startled and began to cry.</p><p>&#8220;One of the coolest parts of the experience was how host Ryan Seacrest revealed Ophelia as the winner of the Oh Baby Contest to America,&#8221; Simone continued.</p><p>Seacrest announced Ophelia&#8217;s name as if she had won &#8220;American Idol.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s honestly so surreal that this beautiful baby from Pittston won a national contest,&#8221; Francis added.</p><p>After Ophelia won, host Kelly Ripa said, &#8220;Congrats Ophelia, you just won a trip to Fiji that you won&#8217;t remember.&#8221;</p><p>With the victory, the Mecadons earned themselves a paid vacation to the Jean Cousteau Resort in Fiji. The trip includes eight days and seven nights at the resort and airfare courtesy of Fiji Airlines.</p><p>According to the television show&#8217;s rules on their website, the grand prize was valued at $13,885.</p><p>&#8220;We have a year to go to Fiji,&#8221; Francis said. &#8220;We will wait till Ophelia is a little bigger, so she can make the 16-hour flight.</p><p>&#8220;We certainly didn&#8217;t do this for attention or the prize. We just wanted to share our beautiful baby girl with the world.&#8221;</p><p>The Mecadons couldn&#8217;t stop praising the people who helped Ophelia win. They both thanked everyone in Pittston, Northeastern Pennsylvania and beyond.</p><p>What&#8217;s next for Ophelia?</p><p>&#8220;I can tell you she is not going to be in &#8216;Toddlers and Tiaras&#8217; or any of the pageants,&#8221; Simone said. &#8220;We are going to enjoy every second of our daughter.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Ten-month-old Ophelia Love Mecadon, of Pittston Township, won the &#8216;Oh Baby Photo Contest&#8217; featured on &#8216;LIVE with Kelly and Ryan&#8217; last week. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1_TTL071618CuteBaby_1-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Ten-month-old Ophelia Love Mecadon, of Pittston Township, won the &#8216;Oh Baby Photo Contest&#8217; featured on &#8216;LIVE with Kelly and Ryan&#8217; last week. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1_TTL071618CuteBaby_2-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Proud parents Simone and Francis Mecadon sit in their Pittston Township home with their daughter, Ophelia, who won the Oh Baby Photo Contest featured on &#8216;LIVE with Kelly and Ryan.&#8217; </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1_TTL071618CuteBaby_2-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Proud parents Simone and Francis Mecadon sit in their Pittston Township home with their daughter, Ophelia, who won the Oh Baby Photo Contest featured on &#8216;LIVE with Kelly and Ryan.&#8217; </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1_TTL071618CuteBaby_3-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Proud parents Simone and Francis Mecadon sit in their Pittston Township home with their daughter, Ophelia, who won the Oh Baby Photo Contest featured on &#8216;LIVE with Kelly and Ryan.&#8217; </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1_TTL071618CuteBaby_3-1.jpg</photo2><caption2>Proud parents Simone and Francis Mecadon sit in their Pittston Township home with their daughter, Ophelia, who won the Oh Baby Photo Contest featured on &#8216;LIVE with Kelly and Ryan.&#8217; </caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1_TTL071618CuteBaby_4-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Francis Mecadon, of Pittston Township, reacts as his daughter, Ophelia, plays in their home. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1_TTL071618CuteBaby_4-1.jpg</photo3><caption3>Francis Mecadon, of Pittston Township, reacts as his daughter, Ophelia, plays in their home. </caption3><photoCredit3></photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1_TTL071618CuteBaby_5-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Oh Baby Photo Contest winner Ophelia Love Mecadon gets a big kiss from her mom Simone at their Pittston Township home. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1_TTL071618CuteBaby_5-1.jpg</photo4><caption4>Oh Baby Photo Contest winner Ophelia Love Mecadon gets a big kiss from her mom Simone at their Pittston Township home. </caption4><photoCredit4></photoCredit4></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Dan Stokes</p><p>dstokes@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Dan Stokes at 570-991-6389 or on Twitter @ByDanStokes</p></shirttailMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><videoMeta><p><table style="border:none;width:98%;" class="mceItemTable"><tbody><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoID:</td><td id="videoid" style="width:50em;font-size:90%;"> fNS-TJV-_Oc</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoType:</td><td id="videotype" style="font-size:90%;"> YOUTUBE</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">URL:</td><td id="url" style="font-size:90%;"> https://youtu.be/fNS-TJV-_Oc</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Embed String:</td><td id="videoembedstring" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Caption:</td><td id="videocaption" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Credit:</td><td id="videocredit" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Position:</td><td id="videoposition" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr></tbody></table></p><p style="margin-top:10px;font-size:70%;color:#555;">(use the &#8220;for files&#8230;&#8221; link above to associate attached files with this source)</p></videoMeta></div>

Pittston Township couple’s baby wins national contest