Peony Pageant

Jenna had the opportunity to participate in the Peony Pageant on Friday night as a flower girl. The Peony Pageant is for high school seniors and is a part of the Peony festival that takes place in Van Wert each June. Each candidate chooses one little girl to be their flower girl during the pageant. Jenna was chosen by a girl who goes to our church, whose name also happens to be Jenna Nicole (to avoid confusion, I'm going to address my Jenna as Jenna C. and the other Jenna as Jenna H. from here on out!). Jenna H was Jenna C's teacher for vacation bible school and Sunday school, and has also babysat a few times....and they instantly bonded! Jenna C. was so excited for the pageant! I took her to get her hair done on Friday afternoon and she also got a new dress. She did a great job! Jenna H didn't end up being crowned Queen, but she did win "Miss Congeniality". Jenna C was so excited for her!! She was also excited that she knew the Queen - the respresentative from Van Wert HS.

I apologize in advance for the quality of the photos. I was in the balcony and forgot to bring my close-up lens. Plus, the lighting on the stage messed with all the colors in my photos (what were they thinking???). It's a little hard to tell, but Jenna C's dress was pale mint green and the Jenna H's dress was chocolate brown.





Waiting patiently for her turn on stage....
Her big moment! As each candidate was introduced for the final time, the flower girls came out and gave them peonies. Then they stood on stage with the escort as the girls walked the stage one last time.

The mom of one of the other flower girls sent me this photo. Her seat was a little closer than mine, so she was able to get a better photo!
All of the flower girls - Jenna is the 5th from the left.
Waiting for the announcement of the Peony Queen....I thought it was so cute that she was sitting there with her fingers crossed for good luck!

All the Queen candidates, flower girls, and escorts

Jenna and Jenna - after the pageant

Jenna with the Peony Queen - Heather (representing VWHS and one of Chris' journalism students)