A Beautiful Saturday Night at ICC

EAST PEORIA — On the evening of Saturday, Jan. 25, 2014, the Illinois Central College Performing Arts Center hosted its 2nd annual Miss Peoria-Metro Scholarship Beauty Pageant.

Only two years old, the pageant is a local preliminary event for the running of Miss Illinois and Miss America. Open to all residents of Illinois, the pageant consists of more than 15 contestants from ages 10 to 24. This particular event included two pre-teen contestants, three teen contestants, and 12 misses contestants, totaling 17 contestants.

The event began at 6:00p.m. and filled more than half of the Performing Arts Center. Randy Rundle and Stacy Campbell, radio personalities from Lite Rock 107 in Peoria, returned to the stage to moderate the events, as they did last year. Also returning were the pageant’s six judges, the chairwoman of the Miss America Illinois Program, and winners from previous Illinois pageants.

There are three sub-groups of contestants, which are pre-teens (aged 10-12), teens (13-17) and misses (17-24). The girls are judged on performances in four main categories: an on-stage interview, a lifestyle and fitness competition, a talent competition and an evening gown competition. The contestants began the pageant with an opening number, a choreographed dance on stage in matching dresses. This time was also used for each girl’s introduction. The song and dances chosen definitely kicked the event off in high-energy fashion.

Shortly afterward, the contestants were brought out individually for the on-stage interview. Given one question to answer in front of the audience, each contestant took a stance on a current issue in America, demonstrating her intellectuality and involvement. The questions varied from Edward Snowden’s clemency to gay marriage to economics to EPA emissions. According to misspeoriametro.com, their answers accounted for five percent of their overall score.

Following the interviews was the Lifestyle and Fitness event, which was the contestants’ opportunity to exhibit physical strength and integrity. Pre-teens Clara Nelson and Regan Tucker kicked off the event with jumping jacks and various other moves, followed by the three teen contestants performing similarly. The misses then shifted gears with a bathing suit competition, which accounted for 15 percent of their overall score.

After a short speech by Randy and Stacy, the contestants began the main event of the pageant, the talent competition. In this event the girls showcased their various unique talents, which included tap dancing, singing, piano playing and tribal dancing. Many contestants chose songs to cover, which were everywhere from Evanescence’s “My Immortal” to Katy Perry’s “Roar.” This event nearly took up an hour and counted for 35% of the contestant’s’ overall score. It also elicited the most audience response, arguably making it the most fun event of the night.

“All the girls were so good!” said Katie Ryba, a spectator and aspiring pageanter, “They really made the night with the singing and dancing. They made me feel like I can do that someday!”

After the talent competition the event moved on to the last portion, the evening gown competition. Self-explanatorily, this part of the event is when the contestants put on their finest evening dress for one last exhibition of beauty. All 17 contestants came out and walked individually for the judges, closing their night of competing on a subtle, elegant note.

After a 15-minute intermission and while the judges took everything into consideration, the audience was treated to speeches and performances by winners of previous years, including Kaitlyn Dixon, 2013’s Miss Peoria-Metro Outstanding Teen, and Katelyn Roberts, 2013’s Miss Peoria-Metro Pre-teen.

Advice for future beauty pageanters: be a Katelyn.

Katelyn and Kaitlyn gave their personal accounts on what pageanting means to them, where they are in their pageanting careers, and whom they should thank for their experiences. When told to “just keep talking” by the unready judge panel, Katelyn Dixon performed “Proud To Be an American” and a sign language dialogue.

At approximately 9:00p.m., the contestants were brought out and the winners announced. Following suit with prior events, the youngest went first. Pre-teen Clara Nelson took home Miss Heart of Illinois Outstanding Pre-teen, her competitor Regan Tucker taking home Miss Peoria’s Outstanding Pre-teen.

The winner of Miss Peoria-Metro Outstanding Teen was none other than Regan Tucker’s sister, Peyton Tucker. “I haven’t done a pageant in over five years,” Peyton exclaimed, “I can’t even believe this right now.”

As the Pre-teen section, the Misses crowned two winners, Miss Peoria-Metro and Miss Heart of Illinois. Miss Peoria-Metro went to Rebecca Palmer, and Miss Heart of Illinois to Audra Ferguson.

“I’m just so happy. I didn’t expect this at all,” said a visibly overwhelmed Rebecca Palmer, who will now move on to another preliminary regional pageant in hopes to becoming Miss Illinois. Audra Ferguson will also be in the running, and was equally pleased with her victory. “I’ve worked so hard for so long. I feel like Miss Illinois will be that light at the end of this tunnel. I can’t wait.”

The Miss Peoria-Metro Scholarship Beauty Pageant is scheduled to take place at the Performing Arts Center next year. The organization is nonprofit and encourages each and every girl who wants to compete to inquire at www.misspeoriametro.com.