Huntley teen crowned Miss McHenry Co.
You could call them the sisterhood of the traveling tiara.
Wednesday marked the 60th anniversary of the McHenry County Fair's Miss McHenry County pageant, an event celebrated by the crowning of Hannah Smith, 18, of Huntley and the appearance of 21 former Miss McHenry County winners, including Marilyn Thomsen-Moore, the first woman to win the title when the pageant began in 1949.
"Even though we all live such different lives we all have this one thing in common: being crowned the winner. It's kind of like a sisterhood," Rebecca Ortiz, Miss McHenry County 1994, said during a reunion luncheon held earlier in the day to honor the former queens. Ortiz, 32, currently lives in Crystal Lake and works as a disc jockey for radio station B96.
At 7 p.m. Wednesday the sounds of laughter and singing could be heard backstage at the county fairgrounds' grandstand as the 17 contests vying for the title stood in line waiting to be called onstage. Even though they were all competing for a title only one girl would win, the girls who comprise this year's "sisterhood" joked with one another, displaying a camaraderie many of them feel is representative of McHenry County itself.
"As citizens of McHenry County, when we come together, great things happen," first runner-up Jessica Briguglio, 18, of Huntley told the audience during her introductory speech.
The event concluded around 9 p.m. with last year's winner, Carly Dikun of Harvard, relinquishing her crown to Smith, who loves group projects and dancing and plans to use $2,000 scholarship prize money to further her ambitions of becoming a teacher.
"There is nothing more rewarding to me than to teach and make a difference in a child's life," Smith told the audience during her speech at the beginning of the pageant.
Smith will go on to compete in January at the Miss Illinois County Fair Contest in Springfield. She begins her duties as Miss McHenry County immediately, first by working various events at the fair as it continues its run through Sunday and then throughout the year acting as McHenry County's ambassador.
Even though its been 60 years since the first Miss McHenry County pageant was held, McHenry County Fair Board President Richard Crone feels the event has not changed a great deal.
"Attributes like personality, poise and honesty, that's what we look for in a winner, and those qualities have not changed over the years. It's those things that we try to recognize," Crone said.