Beauty and Faith- Miss Polk County

Last Saturday, the best and brightest young women in Polk County came together for the Miss Polk County Pageant.

Since 1975 young women in our county have gathered to display their talents. This event has grown and changed a lot in its 40 years of existence. The pageant was originally hosted by the Chamber of Commerce as a fund raising event before it was turned over to the Miss Polk County Committee, formed by private individuals, in the 1980's. Its status as a non-profit organization allowed the pageant to begin awarding scholarships and has ever since. The pageant went on a 2-year hiatus in 2012 & 2014 while the Florence Crosby Auditorium was under renovation. It resumed in 2014 and has crowned 3 winners since.

The Junior Miss Polk County pageant began in 2016 and occurs in conjunction with the Miss Polk County event.

While attending the event this year, I was struck by the number of young women who demonstrated their faith throughout the pageant. I was pleasantly surprised by this as I believe it truly showed the hearts of these beautiful ladies.

Many of the girls also chose to participate in the optional talent competition. Three young women did dance routines, two played piano, one played guitar and sang, a young lady performed American Sign Language to the song "God Bless The USA" and the last performed a "speed painting" routine which gained much acclaim.

After the talent competition, the young ladies competed in the evening gown portion of the pageant. The final 5 contestants were announced immediately after the evening gown segment. The remaining 5 young women answered a final interview question of "Would you rather be liked or respected and why?" This determined the final winners of the pageant, which are listed below.

This was a very nicely executed event and everyone attending seemed to enjoy themselves quite a lot. I most definitely plan to attend the pageant again next year.