JULY 13, 2016 4:29 PM
The best of Miss California? It surely was the contestants
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Miss Orange Coast Izamar Olaguez reacts after being named among the seven finalists.JUAN ESPARZA LOERA jesparza@vidaenelvalle.com
The mission sounded simple: Cover the Miss California 2016 Pageant at the Saroyan Theatre and post daily updates on this publication’s website.
Eight photo galleries (culled from about 5,000 photos), 98 contestants, two finals (the Miss California and the Miss California Outstanding Teen) and about 10 hours of office work later … mission accomplished.
However, the stories and photos tell only part of the story of a pageant that has been coming to Fresno in the heat of summer for more than two decades.
With that in mind, here are my pageant highlights:
▪ Blue ribbon interview: Hands down, it goes to Miss Coachella Valley Angie Peña, a walking definition of dynamic. For almost an hour (apologies to those other contestants she kept waiting), the 20-year-old condensed her life to growing up one of seven children born to an accountant and a preschool teacher in the impoverished Imperial Valley; paying $140 for her pageant evening wear gown; her love affair with Mexican folkloric dancing (dances from the Nayarit region are her favorite); sweeping almost all the individual awards in her first Miss Coachella Valley pageant but not winning the crown; and, the thrill of being recognized at her local Target store and asked for an autograph.
▪ Red ribbon interview: Miss Yorba Linda Casey Fleckenstein reflects the growing diversity of California. The youngest of three daughters born to a German food salesman and a Mexican mother, the 21-year-old Fleckenstein was no stranger to the Saroyan Theatre. She competed in the teen pageant four years ago. Fleckenstein is proof that a contestant’s platform can be very personal. ‘Teen Suicide Prevention through Mental Health Awareness’ is close to her. Fleckenstein was diagnosed with clinical depression during her sophomore year in high school. She bounced back from the disease.
▪ White ribbon interview: Miss Garden Grove Raena Ramírez, a 20-year-old in her first-ever pageant, is one of those competitors who leave you in disbelief. Ramírez, who finished her two years at Golden West College, will enter UC Irvine this fall on a sports scholarship. Ramírez, who played soccer her entire four years of high school, picked up the javelin throw 1½ years ago. She was good enough to win the league title and place fifth at the state championships.
▪ Blue ribbon talent: Miss Orange Coast Izamar Olaguez, a 24-year-old student at California State University, Bakersfield, won her preliminary talent competition on the first evening. Her vocal interpretation of the ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ musical number ‘A New Life’ was the same she performed last year when she was first runner-up. However, her vocals have been fine-tuned through her emphasis on theatrical singing. A few years ago, the Bakersfield native wowed the audience with her ‘Toro Relajo’ singing, but since then she has vowed to not be known solely as “the girl who sings mariachi.” Olaguez was second runner-up in her last of five pageant appearances.
▪ Red ribbon talent: Miss Garden Grove Outstanding Teen Jenna Tower skated away with the Miss California Outstanding Teen crown. That is probably because of her energetic, roller-skating performance to the Christina Aguilera song ‘Car Wash.’
▪ White ribbon talent: Miss City of Los Ángeles Emma Foss, 19, brought a new twist to the pageant talent. There have been fast painters before. In fact, a teen pageant contestant also used the fast-paint routine. However, Foss, one of the 15 semifinalists, survived an “attack” by the canvas. In the Thursday evening preliminaries, when Foss turned briefly to wave at the audience, the canvas fell on her. She recovered quickly, finished her brush strokes, threw glitter on the canvas and revealed her painting of Albert Einstein.
▪ Red ribbon pageant: For the first time in 58 years, the Miss California Pageant did not have the presence of former president/CEO Bob Arhnym, who had to step aside because of health problems. That meant new twists under new boss Patricia Murray, an Air Force veteran and Miss California 1992. The great moves: Having the teen pageant have Friday evening all to themselves; allowing the first half of the evening preliminaries reserved for the teens and the post-intermission time for the Miss California contestants; bringing in Miss California 1994 Donna Cherry as the main emcee. Cherry was lively and showed off her humor, even using hip hop to introduce the judges on the final night.
▪ Blue ribbon pageant: Changes also meant a new contact for the media. That meant that Jonna Aluisi no longer was in charge, but she came to the rescue of this publication and other media by stepping in to help where she could. The interviews with seven of the 11 Latina contestants were because of Aluisi’s assistance.
▪ White ribbon pageant: Miss America 1955 Lee Meriwether, who was also Miss California 1954, provided the star power. She showed off her dance moves on Saturday night, and reminisced about the Catwoman costume used in the 1966 Batman movie. The costume had so much metal that it pockmarked her with burns on her skin.
See www.vidaenelvalle.com for more stories and photos.
http://www.vidaenelvalle.com/opinion/article89225722.html
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