Behind the Headlines

By Paula Wethington

The pageant night activities for the Miss Monroe County Scholarship Pageant don’t end when the queen is crowned (which happened about 9:30 p.m. tonight - Saturday - at Monroe County Community College). It has become a tradition in recent years to end the night with an afterglow social event at the Welch Health Education Building at MCCC in which Miss Monroe County makes her first formal appearance and all of her court is introduced.

Some of the contestants changed into cocktail dresses for this event, others stayed in their evening gowns that were their attire for the second act of the production.

During the social event, little girls walked around with program books, asking the Miss Monroe County contestants “Can I have your autograph?” Miss Monroe County 2007 Rachel McCleery posed for more photographs, in addition to the dozens of snapshots that were taken onstage at the La-Z-Boy Center. The contestants had a dance with their escorts, and several special awards were announced.

The menu had the theme of “A Taste of Monroe,” with local restaurants and caterers providing cake, pop, pizza, fresh fruit, wings and meatballs. On one table, there were cookies that were shaped like crowns and stars - very cute!