HEART OF STEELE

Even though I’ve only attended two Straight River Days celebrations, I already have a favorite event: the Miss Medford celebration.  

This is a far cry from your typical beauty pageant, the kind with fierce competition and on-stage questions and frequent costume changes. The girls range from giggly, sassy kindergarteners to confident, well-spoken teenagers, and they all look like they’re having the time of their lives.

There’s no stage. The girls line up under the shade of a tree near the Veterans Memorial before stepping in front of a tropical backdrop.  

Starting with the Tiny Miss Medford group (grades K-2), the girls walk out among the crowd and then back to the front to receive their crowns as an emcee reads a short bio. Most interesting to me was learning about their favorite parts of Straight River Days and living in Medford.

Evelynn Swedberg’s enjoys the Friday evening parade “because it shows how awesome a small town can be.” Seven-year-old Trinity Langan said she loves living in Medford “because it is small and beautiful.”

Emily Prondzinski, a fourth grader, said her favorite part of the festival was wearing her beautiful dress to the Miss Medford pageant. A Tiny Miss Medford, Emily Dodds, also liked dressing up for the pageant.

In all those responses, I heard some of the things that I loved about growing up in a small town. Little Miss Medford Cecelia Jones feels comfortable walking to her friends’ houses. Haley Hoffman, at age 8, already knows there are so many nice people in her hometown.  

While many pageants focus on external beauty, this local event is about so much more. As title holder Adalia List said, she got involved because “it seemed like a nice thing to do with all the community.”

Miss Medford is also a nice thing the community does for its children. The pageant gives young girls a chance to shine, to have fun, and to feel special–and that makes it one of the most heart-warming parts of Straight River Days.