Craig Daily Press

Craig — On an evening 23 years ago, Stephanie Pearce and her mother were in dire straights.

The two had made the trek from Craig to Denver so Stephanie, then about 12 years old, could compete in the state American Coed Pageant.

There was only one item Stephanie lacked: A dress.

The two scoured Denver clothing stores together that night, looking for a gown that fit both Stephanie’s frame and her mother’s meager budget.

They had their work cut out for them.

“We were desperate,” Steph­anie said. “I was in tears.”

Her mother “had been praying all night that we could find something we could afford,” she said.

Finally, four hours later, mother and daughter found what they were looking for.

Stephanie still remembers details from the white gown she and her mother bought that night for $20, including the sweetheart neckline and puffed sleeves that were in style that year.

And, she still remembers the look on her mother and grandmother’s faces when they saw her on stage.

“They were so extremely proud,” Stephanie said.

Last weekend, she returned to the pageant, this time as a parent.

Her daughter, Samantha, 9, was entered in the pageant’s Sweetheart division.

At the event, Stephanie had a chance to know what her relatives felt more than two decades ago.

Samantha secured the title of Miss Colorado American Sweetheart during the pageant that took place May 30 to June 1 at the Denver Tech Center. Samantha also won the Miss Colorado Hostess title for colleting advertisements for the pageant’s publication.

Their next stop is Orlando, Fla., where Samantha will compete in the National Miss American Sweetheart Pageant in November.

Stephanie said she sees the pageant as a social outlet for her daughter, whom she home-schools.

“I want to make sure she can be out in the real world,” she said.

Pageant competition is based largely on the poise, confidence and intelligence participants demonstrate during an interview, Stephanie said.

Contestants are prohibited from wearing cosmetics — a regulation Stephanie said she has no objections against.

Neither does Stephanie object to her daughter learning to be competitive.

“I think real life is one big, huge competition,” Stephanie said. “If you don’t work hard to reach your goals, you’ll never reach them.”

Nonetheless, Samantha sees pageant competition as more than a chance to win rhinestone tiaras and satin sashes.

Since she started participating in the pageant two years ago, Samantha said she has made about 10 friends among her competitors. Eventually, contestants become like “one big family,” Stephanie said.

She should know.

When she returns to the pageant with her daughter, Stephanie says she meets former contestants who are now also mothers.

Closeness between competitors also can have its downfalls.

Samantha said vying with her friends for the state title was her least-favorite aspect of the pageant.

“If you win and they don’t, they get into the top five and they still cry,” she said.

Still, Stephanie, a lifelong Craig resident, said the pageant broadens her daughter’s horizons as it did hers.

“I also want her to be able to step out of our community and know that when she has a crown, she can do more,” she said.

“She can do more for our community by stepping out.”