Memories of Miss Indiana Week: Day Two

The 31 contestants at the 2011 Miss Indiana Pageant got started on rehearsals at the Zionsville Performing Arts Center on their second day of pageant week.  The 2011 Miss Indiana Pageant had two nights of preliminaries and a final night with the top ten on Saturday, so the contestants have to do a lot of rehearsing to put on the shows.  We practice the big opening dance number and the walking patterns for evening gown and swimsuit.  We practice it over and over to make sure everything is perfect when the curtain goes up on Wednesday night.

A big thank you to the team at the Holiday Inn Express Northwest at Park 100 for being the official host hotel of the 2011 Miss Indiana Pageant!  We spent a full week at the hotel - I remember a few years ago Miss Indiana emcee Brad Brown said pageant week was kind of like summer camp.

One of the best parts of Monday was the cookout with the Zionsville Lions.  The Zionsville Lions have been good friends of the Miss Indiana program for many years so it was really a pleasure to meet them.  The cookout with the Zionsville Lions was one of the events I was looking forward to most during the week because it is a chance to thank one of our biggest supporters in person.  The Zionsville Lions put on lots of great community events in Zionsville where Miss Indiana makes appearances.  Miss Indiana is in Zionsville for the Fourth of July festival and the fall festival just to name a few.

When I got back to the hotel I had a great gift basket waiting for me filled with my favorite snacks and treats!  Miss Indiana week is lots of fun, but it is also really exhausting because of the non-stop schedule. Sometimes it can be hard to find time to grab a snack, and eating regularly is really important to my diet, so I was super grateful to get my favorite snacks.  If you are a contestant at a week long pageant, or traveling for a few days, don't be afraid to pack some snacks and bottled water.  I know a lot of young women struggle to make healthy menu choices when staying at hotels, so having some healthy snacks is a really good idea.

The week really takes off as we move toward opening night and interview day, so keep reading as I post my favorite memories from Miss Indiana Week 2011.