Who knew what I was thinking when I agreed to be a judge for the 2012 Snow Queen competition that was held in Howard, SD, last night? Nothing all that critical, I would guess. And so there I was, spending my Saturday afternoon and evening with some intelligent, lovely young women and two other judges--Dan Bohl and Allison Malone. This competition, which sends its winners on to a state-wide contest, has been held since 1958, and once featured the wife as a contestant. Turned out to be an interesting day.
Scoff as you might at such contests, the event puts the young women--from middle and high school--on the spot, with interviews with the judges and a pageant at night. Judges were tasked with ranking the three senior and six junior candidates on several criteria, including poise, sincerity, personality, and other factors.
The interviews and the evening's competition resulted in the crowning of Sidney Thompson as the Senior Snow Queen and Kayla Pardy as Junior Snow Queen. Each will move on to the state competition in Aberdeen in January. Both will represent Miner County well.
It might come as a surprise that perhaps 300 people attended the event, and they were enthusiastic with each of the announcements of the winners.
The evening also included a talent show (not connected to the Snow Queen contest) where a very young Faith Genzlinger strutted away with the title of the Junior Talent division with a rendition of "These Boots Were Made for Walking." Derick Burghardt was unopposed in the Senior Talent division.
Would I do it again? I suspect I'd be tempted. The event organizers treated us well and nobody egged the car or threatened to punch me out. And it's not every day that a guy gets so many lovely smiles from attractive young women or gets to enjoy so much glitz and glitter.
