July 23, 2010
Chicago, IL

Hello from a wet and wild Chicago, IL. A storm system blew through the area just as many of the ladies were coming over to the theater tonight, so there were some delays to the beginning of the competition. The Miss contestants largely missed the storms, but the Teen contestants that were in the audience tonight were stranded in the lobby for a couple of minutes as they waited for a break in the storm.
I watched the whole thing with amusement as always. Nothing major and we all prepared for a great evening. Scott Seidl came on stage and did his usual opening messages and announcements. Scott announced the Director of the Year, Kristina Koether, director of Texas International Pageants. Congratulations to her…she’s a lovely lady and has worked hard for this honor.
Well, we had the opening number I’ve been raving about with the Miss contestants in the animal prints and it was again high energy and highly entertaining. The ladies introduced themselves and our MC’s took the stage. The actual program of the show was very similar to last night’s so I will highlight mainly differences and the phases of competition here in the writeup.
Erin Golden, Miss International 2009, came out in the gown she won her competition in last year and she looked stunning as always. She highlighted her trip to New York hosting an event at Macy’s Herold Square and the program moved along after a brief interview.
By the way, did I mention how gorgeous our judges are this year? They are gorgeous! Okay. Moving on.
Fun Fashion Wear was the first competition of the night. Word on the street is that they now consider this “Dancing With The Stars” type of costumes. (Previously I had always heard it was to replicate what ladies would wear to a Red Carpet affair or the like.) While I saw that very clearly with the Teens, it seemed a little less so during the Miss competition. Thgat’s just my opinion, though.
Ryan Greenawalt performed a song between competitions and then we moved on to the Fitness competition. The ladies strutted their stuff across the stage…what a lovely group of young women.
Then there was intermission. Many photos were taken by others. I kept looking out the window for storm clouds. The storm had passed and I did my happy dance.
Got a look. Not the good kind. Moving on.
Next, we moved into the Evening Gown competition. More gem tones this competition and a fair amount of our friend, white, in the Miss division gowns. All these ladies were stunning in their gowns and showed them off with a flair and elegance.
Ryan Greenawalt came out to sing “Unstoppable” to introduce the contestants back onto the stage. We did have a near miss with Ashley Newman, Miss Illinois International, almost falling over. Luckily, she caught herself and is fine.
Photogenic award was given out first. It went to Miss Oklahoma International, Anna-Marie Costello.
Congeniality came up next and it was awarded to Allie Glaser, Miss Missouri International.
Congratulations to these lovely ladies. One day left of voting on the Online Voting award. You are all invited to come out here in Chicago for the Miss and Teen International Pageants. Hope to see you all here! I know I’ll be here!