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Miss Delaware Pageant
Amanda Debus, Miss Delaware 2016 Jason Minto/The News Journal
Amanda Debus, of Middletown, has been crowned Miss Delaware and will go on to compete in the Miss America Pageant in September.
She was among the fifteen young Delawareans spangled in sequins who walked out onto the stage at Dover Downs on Saturday night.
That's the hardest part of the Miss Delaware competition, "just walking on stage," said Mona Crawford, 87.
"You have to take a deep breath," she said. Then, later, "they have to drag you off the stage," she laughed.
Crawford won the Delaware title in 1943 and was the most senior alumni at the 75th anniversary of the competition this weekend.
Crawford went on to have a career that took her from Broadway – she was in "Ben Franklin in Paris," which had a seven month run – to television. "I had a wonderful cigarette commercial right when they stopped showing them on TV," she said. They were banned from the airwaves in the early 1970s.
The difference between the contest now and in Crawford's day is huge, she said, describing her's as being "like a little corner drug store."
This year's competition, which spanned two days, was organized by Miss Delaware 1997, Alison Cathrine White, who is an event producer for the Walt Disney Company. It was themed "diamonds are forever," with crystal swags framing the stage and glitter crowns hanging in front of it. About 500 people were in attendance, according to an estimate from the organization.
Among the fifteen contestants from across Delaware, there were some varied talents – five were singers, seven were dancers, one was a violinist, one did a dramatic reading of testimony from the mother of Matthew Shepard, who was beaten to death in 1998, and one was a speed painter.
"I've been painting my whole life," said Victoria Swanson, 19, the speed painter, who discovered her skill last fall. "I'm an OK singer, I'm an OK dancer," she said, but the speed painting talent is "unique," she said backstage before the contest.
She didn't end up making the cut for the final eight contestants, so she wasn't able to perform her minute-and-a-half feat, but she had planned on doing it upside down this time.
All 15 of the contestants were eligible for scholarship awards from a fund totaling over $30,000, according to Brian Martinenz, president of the board of directors. Debus, who won the title of Miss Delaware Teen six years ago, is taking home a $10,000 scholarship along with scholarship offers from four Delaware colleges.
http://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/2016/06/11/miss-delaware-rocks-dover-saturday-night/85771708/
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