Jr. Miss Cherry Festival Pageant

 June 7-

Well, this was a new one for us, but Julienna's friend Kennedy does pageants and Julienna wanted to try one too, so her mom encouraged her to do the Emmett Cherry Festival Pageant.  She told me this one was low key and easy, which is probably true if you are accustomed to pageant life, but for someone who knows nothing about them, it was a big learning curve.

Probably the hardest part of the whole thing was deciding on outfits.  I think overall, I probably ordered 15 different dresses off amazon and 10 pairs of shoes. I was even getting things overnight delivered the day before.  But, in the end, we found things that suited Julienna and her personality (that was the hardest part for me, letting her decide and find things she was comfortable in!)

Otherwise, we had 2 evening rehearsals and a dance for the girls to learn.  Kennedy's mom really took Julienna under her wing and she spent a day over there learning poses and walks.  Friday she had to go in for her interview.  Dress attire was pageant shirt, black shorts, and white shoes. There were 3 judges and she sat there and answered their questions.  She walked out all smiles and feeling good!!

Saturday was the big day!  I helped her with her hair and makeup and it was a very natural but polished look.  I thought I would have more time between sets to touch things up, but backstage, things move very quickly!!  She had quite the cheering section with Jonathan, Kingston, me, grandma, grandpa, grandpa Dan, and Amy.  Her friend Abby from school also came out with her mom, so that was a fun surprise!

Opening number was a group dance, followed by her fun fashion look (inspired by the pageant theme "Let's go girls" Disco Cowgirl), and then they finished with evening wear and the crowning ceremony.

The fun fashion segment she walked on stage and said her name and age and then during the evening wear segment, they asked her a question (What are you looking forward to most this summer? Yellowstone!).  During each of those walks there are marks on the stage that you have to hit for scoring purposes.  She walked on stage with all the confidence in the world and looked like she was in her element. I think I was more nervous than she was!

They had an intermission while the judges tallied the scores and it was perfect because we got to take pictures with her and get out of the hot gym for a minute!

Pageant awards are very different than other sports so we had to figure that all out!  They had all the girls come back out on stage (26 contestants) and handed out the various sashes/crowns/tierras/certificates.

One of the first awards was more Miss Personality and we were thrilled when they called #36 Julienna Leatham for her age group (9-10 year olds).  She was absolutely beaming as they  pinned on her sash and placed her tierra! 

They gave out a few certificates in each age group for best dress evening wear and fun fashion, Miss Spirit of Pageantry, Directors Choice, and Miss Community Spirit.  Then it was on to the real awards!  They started with the "grands" which are the 3 top scorers out of the pageant.  They are scored 30% on their interview, 30% on fun fashion stage presence, 30% on evening wear stage presence, and 10% on stage question.  This would be above a divisional (age group) queen.  There is an Ultimate grand, Supreme Grand, and Mini Grand Queen.  And guess who in there first pageant ever got Mini Grand?! That's right, Julienna!!!  She just shined on-stage and was the third highest scorer in the pageant!!!  We figured she had a shot for a title in her division, but we were blown away when they announced her!  Her smile didn't leave her face for the rest of the night!!

Her sweet friend Kennedy got Queen in their age division so they were both pretty excited to wear their crowns! I couldn't have asked for a better result and experience!  But I don't know what we might have gotten ourselves into now!