Sean C. Morgan
Kimber Swanson was named 2011 Sportsman’s Holiday Queen at the second annual Chips ’n’ Splinters talent contest and coronation held Thursday night in the Sweet Home High School auditorium, kicking off the 2011 Sportsman’s Holiday.
Cheyenne Patton won the talent portion of the show, performing Patsy Cline’s “Walking After Midnight.”
“I was pretty surprised,” Swanson said. “Both of these girls are really good at what we did. Laura’s so good at public speaking, and Ami’s good at poise.”
Ami Olmsted was named Miss Congeniality, and Laura Grove was first princess.
The girls were judged based on an interview, their poise, speeches and an answer to an impromptu question.
“The court was definitely a last-minute decision,” Swanson said. She hadn’t given it much thought. “As time went on there was more to it than being on the court, more than looking pretty.”
The members of the court have more responsibilities than she thought, Swanson said. She’s enjoyed getting to know the people in the community, the new relationships and connections.
“We have amazing people in our community,” Swanson said.
In her speech, she noted the differences between the “Fabulous 50s,” the theme of Sportsman’s Holiday, and the present.
“In the past 60 years, prices have gone up – just a little,” Swanson said. A Corvette cost $3,200 then.
The 50s had Chuck Berry, Elvis and Little Richard, she said. There was no Internet, no iPods. Television was rarer.
“My grandmother didn’t own one,” she said. “But her uncle did.”
Dancing became huge in the 1950s, she said, along with malt shops, sock hops and drive-in theaters.
Since then women have gained much more freedom, she said. “Now we can hold the same positions as men in the office. They’re not confined to the kitchen.”
People can talk over thousands of miles over Skype, and it’s Starbucks instead of a soda shop, she said. “One thing still holds us together.”
One thing is the same: “And that’s that we’re all human beings.”
The talent show included a variety of acts.
The A&W Root Bear led off the A&W Root Bear Extravaganza playing “The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy from Company B” with a variety of dancers. The group placed second.
Performing second and finishing third was Kyle Moore-McKay spinning a stick to “Rockin’ Robin.”
Also performing were Perry Crocker, “Forever and Ever, Amen,” by Randy Travis; Stephanie Crocker performing “Stuck Like Glue,” by Sugarland; Dave Samson performing “Oh, Donna,” by Ritchie Valens; and Today is Now, performing an original song, “Warm Me Up.”
The Gypsy Circle Dance Troop also performed during the program, and Patton performed “Heart Like Mine,” by Miranda Lambert, with Tressa Lovik.