Girls get glammed up for pageant

HUNTINGDON, Tenn.– Girls get glammed up for an afternoon of competition.

Girls from less than a year old to their teenage years dressed their best for their first pageant in a while.

“I only had one of my own, and one granddaughter, and now one great granddaughter. I really love children,” pageant director Deen Stokes said.

Stokes has been in the pageant world for 45 years, and said she does it for the kids.

It all started when her granddaughter was young.

“My little granddaughter was two, and wanted to be in them all the time, so I decided I’d do them too. I started back then, and I’ve been doing it ever since,” Stokes said.

Several girls across different age groups put on their blitz and bling and competed for the title of Miss Firecracker.

They wore formal, casual, and outfits of choice.

Every competitor took home something.

“We try to keep it as honest as possible, and everybody gets something. Everyone’s a winner in my pageants,” Stokes said.

She believes that pageants teach competitors some valuable life lessons, although she said others may disagree with her.

“I think it teaches them to share, how to have personality, and how to get along with other people,” Stokes said. “It teaches them how to lose and how to win.”

Stokes said this pageant was the first since February after the shutdown due to the pandemic.