Although Queen Elizabeth has been neatly reinstalled in Buckingham Palace after her recent visit to the former colonies, Western North Carolina still seems to have a case of royalty fever. For those looking for a reason to curtsey, the Teen, Miss and Mrs. North Carolina International Pageant takes the stage at Diana Wortham Theatre this weekend.
“This is not a beauty contest,” insists Kylee Odom, Mrs. North Carolina 2006 and international pageant director for North Carolina. “[The winner] is [mostly] based on her [social] platform, and what she’ll do when she teams up with an organization.” (Winners in the three divisions go on to compete with their fellow crown-holders from other states and countries, in separate pageants to be held during July in Chicago.)
If “Mrs. International” sounds to you like a distant cousin to Captain America, or like a more feminine type of heavy-duty vehicle, you’re not alone. Asheville’s hemp-and-Keens-wearing populace is ideologically about as far away from pageantry as Kim Jong Il is from a Nobel Peace Prize. One boutique manager in Asheville recently pointed out that this is a jeans-wearing town—and that getting dressed up, for many women, means trading out hiking boots for heels.
Still, Odom, an Asheville resident, isn’t deterred. “Asheville is a collaboration of all different types of people,” she says. “There are a lot of earthy people. A lot of naturalists and conservationists and people who aren’t necessarily into the pageant world. But there are also a lot of stars and high-profile people. There’s an even mix of everything. [Asheville has] so much to offer; it’s not just one type of person.”
She adds, as befits Mrs. North Carolina, “I know the contestants are so excited to come to the mountains.”
The International Pageants were developed more than two decades ago, after the Miss USA competition (not to be confused with what is still the country’s largest pageant, Miss America) dropped its “Mrs.” division, leaving a hole for competitors of a certain age. So the Mrs. International title was created, followed by Miss and Miss Teen titles, as well.
“The Mrs. International system has been developed to promote today’s married women, their accomplishments, and commitment to family and marriage,” explains a passage on the pageant’s Web site, mrsinternational.com. “Around the world women are finding this system to be the opportunity to work with their husband and family to become positive role models.”
Contested crown
And yet, when Odom mentions that “lots of area queens will be participating,” it’s not Miss Biltmore Forest or Miss Teen Concord who come to mind, but rather the type of queens who haunt local nightclubs Scandals and Hairspray, lip-synching to “I Will Survive” on drag-show night.
Local personality Cookie LaRue, the namesake of Haywood Street bar LaRue’s Backdoor, muses, “As for the pageant coming to Asheville, anyone who has walked around downtown on a Saturday afternoon knows this place is usually swarming with queens anyway—so I don’t think it’ll make too much of an impact.”
She offers this advice to the International Pageant participants: “First of all, girls, consider yourselves damn lucky that I, Cookie LaRue, will be too worn out from the final, held-over performance of my show ‘Broadway Bound … & Gagged’ to compete. That leaves a glimmer of hope for all of you.”
As for social platforms, LaRue quips: “I personally have not worn platforms to a social since sometime in the ‘70s … I guess everything old is new again.”
But the contestants’ platforms—in this case, their involvement in charitable or educational organizations—have become the main thing they “wear.” The pageant’s point system is structured so that each queen is judged more on her commitment to service work than on her bathing-suit-clad figure. Actually, the International Pageant was the first to do away with the swimwear competition, replacing maillots with fitness apparel. And this year’s competitors will make a showing at the local Relay for Life, joining the walk-a-thon to raise funds for breast-cancer research.
“A lot of contestants have lost parents or grandparents to cancer,” Odom says. Some have even chosen the fight against breast cancer as their charity campaign, but all of them will embrace the cause in Asheville. And yes, they’ll be walking in their crowns and sashes.
The North Carolina International Pageant, featuring Miss Teen (ages 13-18), Miss (ages 19-29) and Mrs. (age 21 and up) divisions, will be held at 7 p.m. on Saturday, May 19, at Diana Wortham Theatre. $25/adults, $10/students, $5/children. Info at www.kyleekproductions.com or at 257-4530. Relay for Life takes place at Carrier Park in Asheville on Friday, May 18. 6 p.m. 254-6931 or www.ncrelayforlife.org
The who’s who of tiaras
Thinking of checking out the North Carolina International Pageant? Here’s who’s competing from around WNC and across the state:
• Holly Clark—Miss Arden
• Jolene Puffer—Mrs. Asheville
• Michaela Layman—Miss Asheville
• Gretchen Chandler—Miss Teen Asheville
• Amanda Tweed—Miss Biltmore Forest
• Sara-Diana Baxley—Miss Brevard
• Elizabeth Augenstein—Miss Charlotte
• Logan Brafford—Miss Teen Charlotte
• Kimberly Smith—Miss Cherokee
• Jill Ayscue—Miss Teen Concord
• Sandra Fields—Miss Greensboro
• Amanda Tomlinson—Miss Fletcher
• Terri Lyda—Mrs. Hendersonville
• Suzanna Hudson—Miss Hickory
• Kim Martin—Mrs. Outer Banks
• Angela Bollinger—Miss Raleigh
• Gina Freeman—Mrs. Saluda
• Beatriz Gill—Mrs. Southern Pines
• Angela Ramsey—Mrs. Weaverville
• Samantha Howie—Miss Teen Weaverville
• Corrinne Salefsky—Miss Wilmington
• Danielle Talbott—Mrs. Fayetteville
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