Arkansas!

What an incredible week! I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to travel down to Arkansas for the Arkansas High, Jr. High and Collegiate Pageants! This has certainly been one of the biggest highlights of my reign thus far.

I arrived at the Little Rock airport and was met by Inez Freeman and Amanda Patterson, who brought my mother and me back to Amanda’s BEAUTIFUL home in Benton.  After meeting the rest of the Patterson family, Inez, the Pattersons, my mother and I met Chelsy Lewis (Miss Arkansas Collegiate 2011) and her mother for dinner, where I enjoyed chicken, collard greens and some amazing corn bread!

Thursday was spent working hard on last-minute pageant preparations and catching up with my MCA/MHSA family. I went to my first Sonic for Lunch (there aren’t any Sonics in Maine!) and had a girls’ night out in Little Rock with Amanda, Inez, Jen West, Chelsy Lewis, and Hallie Waddell (Miss Arkansas High 2011). I had the chance to enjoy the beautiful Arkansas weather on the restaurant patio and Inez and I split a reaaaaally yummy apple crisp for dessert!

Friday was pageant day #1! We all arrived at Pulaski Academy bright and early to meet the contestants and begin rehearsals.  All of the girls looked fabulous and quickly learned the opening number and walking patterns. While the Collegiate and High School contestants practiced on stage, I had the chance to work with the Junior High contestants alone. What a great group of girls! 

Arkansas High, Collegiate and Jr. High Contestants

And then, I was in for some unexpected excitement.  Hallie drove Chelsy and me to Panera bread for a quick lunch at Panera Bread. On our way back to the theater, I was sipping my iced tea in the back seat and chatting with the girls when all of a sudden—BUMP! The person behind us hit the brakes just a little too late and slid right into Hallie’s back bumper. Luckily, all of us were okay and the damage was minimal, but I can only imagine what the driver was thinking when 3 girls jumped out of the car in dresses, heels and pageant sashes! It was quite a scene. . .

Post-Fender Bender

Thankfully, that’s where our bad luck ended. The Collegiate and High School preliminary went off without a hitch and each of the contestants did a wonderful job. I wouldn’t have wanted to be on the judges panel!

Saturday began with High School and Collegiate interviews. . .and some really delicious chicken minis from Chick Fil A. The judges were so impressed with the maturity and poise exhibited by the contestants in the interview room and were lucky to have a few hours to reflect on the 72 girls’ interviews while the Junior Miss contestants competed in the afternoon Junior Miss Arkansas High Pageant. I appreciated having the opportunity to emcee the afternoon pageant and witness Arynn Johnson’s reaction as I called her name as the new Junior Miss Arkansas High! 

Saturday evening was the big event—The 2012 Miss Arkansas High and Collegiate Pageant! The top 15 High School and Collegiate contestants competed in the Fashion Runway and Evening Gown competitions and Hallie and Chelsy said their goodbyes before all of the contestants were brought back onstage for awards and crowning. At the end of the night, Raygan Sylvester was crowned Miss Arkansas High 2012 and Naiz Bolin was crowned the new Miss Arkansas Collegiate! Both are sweet, beautiful girls and will do wonderful jobs at nationals in March! I’m happy to welcome two new queens into the MHSA/MCA family! :)

 Miss Arkansas High 2012, Raygan Sylvester

  Miss Arkansas Collegiate 2012, Naiz Bolin

Spending time with Amanda, Inez, Hallie, Chelsy, Summer Priester (Miss High School America), Kyndal Hayes (Miss Collegiate America 2010), Laine Berry, Jennifer, and the rest of my MCA/MHSA family was amazing. Thanks so much to the Patterson family for your hospitality all week long. I loved Arkansas and will certainly have to visit again soon! 

With Chelsy, Laine Berry and Hallie backstage, wearing a Royal We dress!

 With Hallie and Chelsy backstage on Saturday, wearing a dress from The Royal We!

 With Summer (and Tripp) after the pageant :)

With Tripp Patterson :) What a sweetheart

Singing "In My Daughter's Eyes" at the evening pageant.

Coming home was difficult; I wasn’t ready to leave! BUT, I have lots to get ready for back in Maine, as this weekend is the Miss Maine Academic Scholarship Pageant, where we’ll crown the next Miss Maine High School and Miss Maine Collegiate. I’ll also be cheering for the lovely Christine Blake as she competes for the title of Mrs. United States on Friday night and preparing for my sister’s Miss America’s Outstanding Teen send-off part on Sunday! Phew, it’s pageant time!!