craigdailypress.com

Photo by Shawn McHugh

Kiari Vaillette, 5, shows off her talents with a tap dance during the Miss Yampa Valley Pageant on Saturday night at Ridgeview Elementary School. The pageant had nine competitors competing in four divisions.

There were no spray-on tans or fake white teeth.

There were no swimsuit modeling, diamond tiaras or fierce competition.

Just nine local girls in white shirts and jeans, performing their group dance number to “I Just Can’t Wait to be King,” from the Lion King in the gymnasium at Ridgeview Elementary School.

Throughout the day Saturday, the girls were judged on their poise, confidence and dedication to their community during the first Miss Yampa Valley Pageant.

The event was put on by two mothers who have extensive experience with their own daughters at pageants across the country and wanted to bring the opportunity to the Craig community.

Tonya Herring, one of the event organizers, said most people tend to lump all beauty pageants into one category.

“When people think pageant, they really have the wrong idea,” she said, as she snapped pictures of girls getting their hair done by doting mothers. “But it’s all about the skills they’ll use for the rest of their life.”

Early Saturday evening, the girls and their parents returned from a break to begin preparing for the finale, which included the group dance number, a formal wear competition and the talent portion.

In a classroom-turned-dressing room, girls calmly donned their formal wear for pictures and chatted with one another as their mothers put the final touches on their soft curls.

There were few preparations for most of the girls — the pageant focused on allowing the girls’ natural beauty to shine through.

The first Miss Yampa Valley beauty pageant was “all natural,” meaning girls under age 12 are not allowed to wear make up, while teenagers only wear light, natural looks.

For a few of the girls, it was their first pageant experience.

Tracy Carlson said she competed in a pageant as a young girl and thought it would be good for her daughter’s self-esteem to give Miss Yampa Valley a try.

“I was a little nervous when she was up there,” Carlson said of her daughter, Abigail. “She’s very smart, but she stutters. But she didn’t stutter at all when they asked her questions. She paused a few times, but she did really good.”

Several years ago, Abigail had bought an orange dress adorned with silver stars and never had a chance to wear it.

On Saturday, she stood in a pair of her mother’s black pump heels wearing the orange dress while her mother put the finishing touches on a few of her curls.

One swipe of brown mascara and she was ready for the formal wear competition.

“I just wanted to see what it would be like,” Abigail said. “One day I’d like to be in the Miss Colorado pageant, but not for a few years. I need to practice.”

Event organizer Stephanie Pearce has been traveling to pageants for years with her 11-year-old daughter, Samantha. She’s seen pageants that cost almost $1,000 to enter, and spent thousands on traveling around the country to competitions.

“We’ve met some people who wanted to try pageants but didn’t want to put in all that time and money,” Pearce said.

She said the first year of the local event was a success and organizers hope to establish the pageant as a non-profit organization to help girls travel to bigger pageants.

Herring said she hoped to raise awareness for natural beauty pageants that give young girls self-confidence and opportunities to travel and meet new friends.

“It’s not glitzy,” she said. “These are our girls.”