Miss Delaware Tuesday

Pageant Tuesday kicked off early with the first meal at The Festival Buffet at Dover Downs.  During pageant week we enjoy quite a few opportunities to chow down at the buffet.  The buffet is pretty darn awesome and changes all the time so there are about a million choices as to what you can eat.  I always feel a little sorry for the contestants though.  Let’s face it, a buffet and swimsuit competition doesn’t exactly go hand in hand.  Good thing there are also lots of healthy choices to choose from as well.

The contestants then spent the rest of the morning in production rehearsal with Kenney learning the ins and outs of the show.  Things like swimsuit competition walk and evening gown walk are all carefully choreographed and timed into the show.  You would be amazed at all of the things a contestant has to think about while on-stage. 

Our tech crew is starting to arrive.  We had John (our lighting designer) with us last night getting set and everyone else will arrive tomorrow and everyone else will arrive tomorrow morning. You may be surprised to know that even our tech crew is a part of the Miss Delaware Family as they have been with us for YEARS.  I literally LOVE working with these people.  You would not believe the chaos that is going on behind the scenes sometimes and the audience sees none of it.  The people are an amazing group of professionals. Did you know that the person responsible for fluffing trains, perfectly placing mics and managing any backstage meltdowns is actually a man?  Kevin, world class train fluffer and our stage manager, does it all and can talk pageant with the best of us (though I’m sure he would be mortified if his friends knew that).  I can’t leave out Gino, our sound technician.  This man has saved my butt over and over again.  He edits music on the spot and works with each and every contestant individually to make sure their music is show perfect.  Anyway, I digress…

After rehearsal, it was time for everyone to clean up and head to lunch.  Today’s lunch was provided the Lone Star Steakhouse in Camden, DE.  Lone Star has been sponsoring the Miss Delaware Organization for years and this meal is always anticipated and appreciated.

Unfortunately, lunch was over way to soon and it was then time to head to Legislative hall where the contestants were given the opportunity to present themselves in front of the house and senate.  What a great opportunity for each of the contestants to get to know their legislators a little bit. After all… one of them will be spending quite a bit of time with their legislators in the very near future as Miss Delaware.  Thanks to the hard work of generations of Miss Delaware’s, the Miss Delaware title is well respected among our Delaware legislature.  Miss Delaware’s have been on the forefront of a lot of ground breaking legislation and advocacy.  Being from a small state does have its perks!  Another cool thing is that at this event Miss Delaware presents her portrait to the legislature and then for the entire week of Miss Delaware the portrait is proudly displayed in Legislative Hall.  I wasn't able to attend this event but Mrs. Soucek did so check facebook for pictures tomorrow.

Upon returning to Dover Downs it was time for one of the highlights of the entire week…the Miss Delaware Little Sister pizza party and rehearsal.  We were so pleased to have 46…yes 46…young ladies between the ages of 5 and 13 join us this year.  Both Big and Little Sisters had a blast!  We worked the runway, took tons of pictures, ate pizza, laughed a lot and even managed to fit in a little bit of rehearsal.  Mark my words people…we have more than one future Miss Delaware in this group of Little Sisters.  A huge thanks to all of the volunteers who helped out tonight…especially Bliss Soucek for tackling the choreography!  I can’t wait for you to see all of this cuteness on the stage at Thursday and Friday’s preliminary competitions.    Here are a few pics but I’ll post more on the Miss DE facebook page tomorrow.

And just when we all became so exhausted that we thought we would drop it was time to START production rehearsal.  First up, we learned the entire finale. Sounds like a ton but it’s mostly just walking.  I’ll tell you a little more about this on a day when the blog isn’t quite so huge.   I may or may not have thrown a huge hissy fit in the middle of this because the contestants were not paying attention.  We then went straight into the opening number and finished that one up and then rehearsed the production number as well.  So…everything is a hot mess but at least they are finished.  We do have a little bit of time to rehearse during the day tomorrow before the big dress rehearsal so fingers crossed I can get it looking much better before then.  I’m not in a total panic yet but definitely concerned.

In an unprecedented move Tuesday’s Miss Spirit was actually awarded to four beautiful and talented young ladies.  These young ladies worked their tails off tonight even though it meant that they were up waaaaayyy past their bedtime.  I should also mention that the young ladies are not contestants but entertainers who will be featured in the finale.  A huge congratulations to Ariana Knowles, Juliana Warnock, Olivia Carabello and Alyana DeBaca for earning the coveted golden sash before they are even old enough to compete!