The Memorial Opera House hosted the 2014 Miss Great Lakes and Miss Kankakee Valley Scholarship Pageant on a slushy, snowy Saturday afternoon. The pageant was held to not only to give a scholarship to four lucky winners, it also stood as a preliminary pageant for Miss Indiana and even Miss America.
There were eleven contestants within the Miss division and three contestants within the Teen division. All of the girls participated in the usual pageant categories. The events kicked off with the Miss/Teen opening number and introductions, then moved on to questions based on the girl’s specialty platforms. The questions, given by host of the afternoon Memorial Opera House’s artistic director Scot MacDonald, ranged from politics, bullying and personal triumphs. From there the swimwear portion commenced, and talent came immediately after. Talents performed by the girls ranged from dancing, singing and cheerleading all the way to an original monologue. The last event that closed up the show was another question session with the teen category participants in their choice of evening wear, and then followed closely by simply evening wear for the Miss contestants.
After the show finished, the line of events the panel of judges deliberated on their choices. Judges Michael Ohm, Michelle Smith, Kristi Osto judged the girls not only by their performances in the events but also by poise, overall personality and stage presence. The first award was given to Ellie Barnes who won the peoples choice award, an award that was determined by the amount of donations in her bag out in the lobby. All of the donations given by the crowd to determine the winner will be given to a four year old cancer patient to help fund her medical bills. In the end Miss Kankakee Valley 2013 Emma Tarkington presented the crowns to Rose McClimans and Kassidy Tharp who secured the two spots for Miss Great Lakes. Yana Jones and Breena Liddell both won for Miss Kankakee Valley as well.
The contestants were all bright smiles and teary eyes but Brenna Liddell was almost speechless after her win “I mean, this is so amazing and I can’t even believe this is real life. This is my second time winning but it feels like the first time. It’s absolutely incredible and I’m so excited to represent this title in state. I’m so, so excited.”
Her mother Brea was no less excited then Brenna as she stated, “I know she said it already but it’s so exciting! It’s always an honor to see her accomplish a goal.”
The judges were also caught with the infectious buzz that filled up the stage. Michelle Smith was happy with who she and the two other judges picked as their four winners, “All of them were great, but I’m proud of our choices. I think we made the right decisions.”
There is nowhere but up to go for the winners. Not only did they win a prestigious scholarship for their education but they will move on to be hopefuls to win tiaras in a state-wide competition in June.
Congratulations to all of the girls who participated in this pageant! And to the winners, good luck!