Kingston crowns royal court

Published 1:00 pm Wednesday, August 16, 2006

KINGSTON — The rumble of voices and the swish of the curtain filled the Kingston Junior High gymnasium Saturday night. Excitement and anxiousness filled the air, radiating from the 2006 Miss Kingston contestants’ dressing room. The dark catwalk was studded with flashing lights, and sparkly tiaras glittered as visiting royalty found their seats before the night of glamor got underway.

The stage was set, and the gym was full of friends, family and community members waiting for five young women to wow them. Backstage was filled with nerves and the thrill of performing as the Miss Kingston candidates smoothed out the wrinkles in their evening dresses and creative displays for the audience and most importantly for the judges.

After two hours of talent, entertainment, singing, dancing and high heels, Kingston had a new royal representative. Paige Woodside was crowed Miss Kingston 2006, and will be joined by princesses Felicia Perl and Amber Hoak, to make up the new court.

Each girl was commended by MC Patrice Diehl and Miss Kingston Director Leslie Burns, and given special awards for their hard work.

“I’m overwhelmed with everything,” said Woodside, who won the Choreography Award, sparkling in her new tiara and evening gown, holding a huge armful of flowers. She and the princesses couldn’t help but smile at everyone around them.

“I’m ecstatic,” said Perl, who was awarded the Perseverance and Determination Award. “I’m very surprised.”

“I’m amazed,” added Hoak, who won the Director’s Award. “This is an amazing opportunity.”

Before the budding royalty was picked, however, they had to go through a series of evaluations, proving that they would be best suited to hold the titles.

Each girl had a series of tests they had to perform to demonstrate to the judges that they would be the best fit for Miss Kingston and Princesses. The first was the creative display.

During the performances, contestant Markie Rustad, who won the Best Essay Award, sang “The Wizard and I” from the broadway musical “Wicked,” Perl performed a monologue of a young woman being pestered by an admirer and Woodside performed a dance choreographed to music from the movie “Havana Nights.”

Continuing on with the array of talent, contestant Shannon Fyfe, who was awarded the Miss Spirit Award, belted out “Just Around the River Bend,” from Pocahontas and Hoak performed the piano piece “Fountains in the Rain” by William L. Gillock, during which she spoke her own cadenza in French describing a rainy day, finishing out the performances with a bang.

The girls and audience were given a break in the form of a 15 minute intermission, providing the contestants with enough time to change and prepare for the next phase of the fun but rigorous pageant.

After intermission concluded, each girl had to answer an impromptu question about her platform while modeling an evening gown. The scores broke down into the personal interview worth 30 percent, the creative display also worth 30 percent, the evening gown worth 10 percent, the impromptu question worth 20 percent and the secret judge — 2005 Miss Kingston Erinn Bartlett — worth 10 percent.

Burns said each of the contestants fulfilled her expectations during the pageant — any of them would have been a wonderful Miss Kingston. But in the end, only three would go on to represent Kingston.

“I’m really happy for these wonderful, smart, talented girls,” said 2005 Kingston Princess Chyna Riedel.

“These girls deserve it, they did a wonderful job,” Bartlett said.

Representing Kingston isn’t the only perk the royalty receives, they also are given scholarship money for school. Miss Kingston is awarded $1,000, and each princess receives $500. The other girls also earned $100 with their special awards.

“I’m looking forward to getting out into the community and creating change,” Hoak said, adding that she was very much looking forward to going home and taking off her heels and relaxing.