Over the rainy weekend, I took part in a parade. The annual Santa
Parade takes place in Midland and is meant to get the community in the holiday
spirit with floats and candy-givers from various businesses and establishments throughout
the town. I was in the parade to represent the Midland County Fair along with
three friends as the 2014 Fair Royalty Court.
Back in June, as I was sitting in the pew of a church during
a 4-H meeting, talking with my cousin, Shelby, about entering in the Royalty
Pageant. She, her sister Jayci, and I had done the pageant once when we were in
our preteen years and we ran for princess. We were all too nervous and alas,
none of us won. As I discussed it with Shelby I told her, “Hey, it’s my last
year I’m going to live it up!” I filled out the entry sheets and began
preparing for my questioning.
The pageant takes place at the fairgrounds on the Saturday preceding
the fair, in the steer showmanship arena. During the pageant, each contestant
must wear formal attire and go up on stage in front of a crowd of family,
friends, fellow 4-Hers, and judges to answer two questions. One question is
related to your application, the other you pull from a basket. As I listened to
my competitors, I thought their answers were amazing and that I didn’t stand a
chance. My heart was racing when I was on stage and I was so sure everyone else
could hear it beating. After everyone had been questioned, the judges did their
tallying and then last year’s queen announced the winners. When I heard my name
called, it was like a surreal movie moment, I could only hear my family’s
shouts and cheers for half-a-second before everything went silent and I fought
back tears as I walked up to receive my crown and sash. Winning 2014 Midland
County Fair Queen was a gift that made my last 4-H year even more memorable.
With winning came responsibilities and privileges. Court
members get to be announced at a few grandstand events during fair week. We also
got to be in a few parades. The four of us, the prince, princess, king, and I,
plan to get together to do some volunteering. I will be announcing the whole
pageant for the upcoming fair week next August, reading each profile, asking
all questions, revealing the winners. I’m extremely excited.
Now that I’ve explained why I was in the parade and how I got
there, I’ll discuss the parade itself. It was a rough day from the beginning.
The roads were coated with inches of ice from rain the night before. It was
treacherous attempting to get to the city roads that would have no ice. My boyfriend,
Jared, was with me which was a blessing because he kept me calm as I was
driving. Finally, I reached the parking lot where everyone was waiting for the
parade to begin. I attached my sign to the float then socialized with the
others and their parents. I noticed that the jacket I had chosen would’ve
sufficed at home where it was warmer and there was no wind, but here in town it
was colder. I was freezing before we even left the parking lot. I didn’t look
very queen-like, I had a hat on and my crown on top of it. It continued to rain
and our signs began to bleed their colors. Then when we finally sat down in our
places, we realized that the rain had been coming into our trolley and that
made the blankets we sat on wet, which instantly made us feel that much colder.
It was fun, that much is true but point
taken, more planning needed to occur on my part.
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