World Elite Pageant - An Earth Shaking Experience

If you don't know by now, I have a hobby that some people find strange for a woman of my advanced years.  I like to compete in pageants.  I know.  I am married.  I am 49 years old.  I have two adult children.  My days of competing in pageants should be over, but why do they have to be?  I am more than just wife, mother, teacher.  I am also Kelly and so I ventured to Columbia, South Carolina to compete in the World Elite Pageant.

Kiddo #1 and I had decided to compete in the Mother/Daughter part of the pageant AND compete individually.  She would fly out of Fayetteville, AR and we would meet in Atlanta and then fly together to Columbia.  Well, best made plans and all that.  Because of the bad weather in Atlanta and the eastern coast, there were no planes in Fayetteville so Delta cancelled her flight.  After being on the phone for 1 hour, Kiddo #1 finds a flight out of Fort Smith, which was then cancelled.  Finally she finds a flight out of Tulsa and made it to Columbia about supper time.  So far the weekend looks like it will run smoothly......right?

Pageant weekend is all about getting prepared and staying focused.  Friday night was an informal meet and greet with the other contestants who had arrived at the hotel.  Only a few of the contestants could make it to the meet and greet session because of all the travel delays but, of course, we had to take pictures.

 

After the meet and greet, it was time for some beauty rest before the long pageant day ahead.  The fault lines in South Carolina had another idea.  I was almost shaken out of the bed by this quake. 

So, with the World Elite Pageant already rocking my world, it was time to get the pageant underway!  Early morning rehearsals were quickly followed by the mid-day pageant which included Mother/Daughter, Photogenic and Talent competitions.  This was a FAST paced part of the pageant day so I didn't get pics of Kiddo #1 and I in our red gowns competing in Mother/Daughter since talent followed that closely and Kiddo #1 needed to get changed and stretched out for her dance.  I sang "St. Louis Blues" (ala Lencola Sullivan) and had a wonderful time.  Although we didn't win Mother/Daughter, I did win talent in my division and Mrs. Elite Ambassador (based on an essay written about my marriage to Bestie - this is a lifetime title!) and Kiddo #1 won the Community Service Competition.  Now the pressure was off because we would NOT be going home empty handed!

The afternoon pageant ran long, so it was a rush back to the hotel for interviews.  The interviews are one on one with each judge and last 4 minutes each.  It was very much like the interviews in the International Pageant system so we felt pretty confident.

With interviews behind us, we only had two more phases of competition to do Saturday night - self expression in style and evening gown.  We got a quick rest and then back to the Scottish Rite Center for the pageant.  The theme was "Olympics" and the opening number was to wear winter clothes and wave flags from various countries competing in the winter Olympics.  Kiddo #1 and I kept it simple.  Remember, we flew to the pageant and you are charged to check bags now, so we wanted to get the most out of our wardrobe and fur coats take up A LOT of space in a suitcase!!

The self expression in style part of the competition is like a runway modeling competition but you have to write the commentary that goes with your walk and explain why the outfit you are wearing shows your style.  Kiddo #1 related her dress to dance and I talked about how I had created the gown I was wearing by spreading out the fabric on the floor of the fabric store and cutting around it.  Yes, I actually sewed that dress.  I do have a BSE in Home Economics, I just don't like to use it.

 

This was actually fun!  Kiddo #1 and I were relaxed and having a great time.  The pageant was fast but not crazy fast so there was time to change but not time to get bored.  Next was evening gown and we were ready to rock it with gowns from Laine Berry and The Royal We.  Brooke's gown was designed by Laine in 2007 and still is a fantastic gown.  Mine came from The Royal We in Conway, AR where I was treated like a queen.

All the scores were in and it was time for crowning.  As in many pageants, there was time to fill while the auditors added up all the scores.  We had time to get a few pics backstage.

Some of my U.S. United and now World Elite pageant sisters - Laura Smith and Vicki Hedgecock West

Well, when the results were announced, here is what happened:

Brooke (aka - Kiddo#1) won self expression for her division

I won evening gown and self expression for my division

Brooke won Miss World Elite

I won Ms. Woman World Elite

THEN:

Brooke won Miss World Elite Champion (highest point total of all unmarried contestants)

I won World Elite Grand Supreme (highest point total of ALL contestants)

Wow, just WOW!!!

We didn't want to go home empty handed and we were definitely not!  This picture does not show it, but we got nice glass bowls for all the prelim wins, beautiful glasses for our division wins and huge glass bowls for the champion and supreme wins.  Our first question was, "How are we going to get all this home?" and that was before we saw the enormous gift bags we also got full of GREAT products and clothing.  Oh, don't worry, we found a way to fit it all in.  That's how we pageant girls do!

Brooke Chaney, Miss World Elite Champion

Christy Passoth, Ms. World Elite Champion

Me, World Elite Grand Supreme

This was a great weekend, even if we had not won so many awards and gifts.  The other contestants were very kind and I felt like we were just a bunch of girls having a fun girls weekend.  It is so refreshing to meet other women who just like doing pageants without all the cattiness that sometimes is associated with the pageant circuit.  Tamara Harvey is a great director and I encourage anyone interested in getting involved in pageants to check out the World Elite website.

Many thanks to Bobbi Burg and Laura Smith for their wonderful encouragement and to Starr Dawkins for doing a fantastic job on our hair and makeup.  I definitely felt like a queen.

How does Bestie feel about this?  He is pretty proud to be married to a pageant chick with such a big crown.  Yes, to him size does matter.  He does get shy when I ask him to take pics of me all the time at various events, but he still does it.  He even carries my crown and banner for me sometimes.  Just call him "Prince World Elite" or maybe "Court Jester" would be a more fitting title!