Off the I-15

The contestants changed outfits three times. Former Teen Miss and Miss changed four. Sixteen-year-oldKassy Alexander’s favorite cardio activity is playing soccer, and she likes to spoil herself with a strawberry and cream frappuccino from Starbucks and a pedicure. She wore a sea-foam green dress. Leslie Ray, 21, likes to run on the treadmill and then go shopping with friends and eat ice cream. She wore a lime dress.

I know all this, and more, because I took notes. And I know the colors of the young women’s dresses because I asked my photographer, Aileen.

About mid-way through Saturday’s Miss Barstow Pageant, I could not believe I was furiously scribbling down the contestants’ favorite activities, their indulgences and counting wardrobe changes. I certainly did not get into this business to cover pageants. But by the end of the night, I certainly didn’t mind.

True, I did joke about covering Miss Barstow for most of the week leading up to the pageant. Pageant day is a long day for a reporter — it’s a longer day for the contestants and their mothers I am sure — and not one that will expose any government injustices, help the down-trodden or win a Pulitzer.

There are, however, many reasons why covering the Miss Barstow Pageant is great.

1) The gym is replete with stories.

Each contestant, each parent, each grandmother sitting in the gym chairs is a potential story, and they are not going anywhere for hours. I chose to focus on sisters this year but could have done stories on moms and grandmas who sew dresses, make-up experts that cannot drive yet or the little 7-year-old who wouldn’t smile with her mouth open and was pretty sure she wouldn’t win just because she lost her two front teeth a few months ago.

2) People are genuinely excited.

For most of those involved, this is a big deal. Like interviewing the quarterback after a big win, the contestants are normally up-beat and willing to talk about what it took to get where they are, how they are feeling and what they expect. Parents too are sometimes a little too anxious to grab the reporter’s arm and tell you how great their daughter is. This is a nice change from the all too routine practice of pulling teeth to get comments on a normal news day.

3) Great interviews.

All reporters know the horrors of interviewing a 10-year-old:

Q: Did you have fun today? A: Yes.

Q: What was your favorite part? A: Everything.

Q: What do you like about pageants? A: I like being in pageants.

Not so at the Miss Barstow Pageant. Even the two-year-old I talked to was comfortable enough to give me a good facial expression and say she was having lots of fun. The pacifier in her mouth made her a little hard to understand. The younger kids gave great insight into competing and the importance of sisters, and the older women did not seem to flinch when I started asking questions. Anne-Shirley Harpole, who won Teen Miss, was obviously comfortable answering questions and proved to be a great interview. And Miss Barstow AlyxBurnett was so unreserved with her emotions that I believed her when she said she was overwhelmed and left it at that.

4) And it’s just fun.

Everyone is dressed up. Everyone is excited. The audience is cheering. The girls are crying — some in joy, some in disappointment. Flash bulbs are exploding everywhere. The gym is a mob scene at the end. I told my photographer, it’s like being a real reporter, covering a real big event. And who doesn’t like that feeling.

5) Beauty queens can even make me look good.

Me interviewing Miss Barstow Alyx Burnett.

and me interviewing Teen Miss Barstow Anne-Shirley Harpole.

Even though I felt a little silly writing down that fifteen-year-old Victoria Herrera’s secret spoil is carneasada French fries from Amigos (I like Robertizo’s better) or that Danya Hawes wore a chocolate colored dress, better sounding that a brown dress, the pageant is still important and something I don’t mind taking notes at.

This post also is blogged on my Pluck blog “Leftovers” at  www.desertdispatch.com

Aaron Aupperlee | city editor