Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 26, 1995 TAG: 9507260058
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It's Amber's now, not Andrea's - the first time the crown has been worn by two Miss Virginias.
In normal times, it's the winner's to keep, for life.
And even in the best of times, it sits uneasily atop Miss Virginia's head - affixed with six bobby pins, an elastic band and some ingenuity.
On Tuesday, Pageant President Robert Bennett struggled to secure the device into Amber Medlin's 'do, and still didn't get it on tight enough to suit her. "I don't have a lot of expertise with this," he explained afterward.
Contestants talk about winning the crown; last week, the pageant board announced it was taking away a crown. Literally. Board member Harlen Gudger was dispatched to Pebble Creek Apartments to retrieve the shiny ornament from the ousted Andrea Ballengee, toting the crown away unceremoniously in a plastic bag.
Just what is this glittery little headpiece that's at the heart of the matter?
Well . . .
It's the "state pageant" model, ordered from a New Jersey trophy company that specializes in beauty pageant hardware. William Schoppy, Inc. sells a standard-size model to most of the state pageants around the country; it supplies a bigger, more elaborate, version for the Miss America contest.
This particular crowns weighs one to two pounds. "Fairly light," declares manager Dave Talarico, grandson of William Schoppy himself. It's adorned with "about 200 to 300" rhinestones. He thinks they're imported from Sweden, but he's not sure.
The frame is forged from a base metal so common not even the manufacturer can remember what it is.
It costs $168.50.
This year's model arrived via United Parcel Service about a month before the July 1 pageant, and was stored in the locked filing cabinet of pageant executive director Margaret Baker.
The crown's storage case - a handsome walnut box, with an engraved brass nameplate and maroon velvet insides - is ordered separately. For reasons unclear, it's the tradition for Miss Virginias not to receive their "crown box" until they attend the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City, N.J. in September, Baker said. They always make a side trip to Lynnwood, N.J. to pick up the box in person at Schoppy's.
"It's just a ritual we've got," Baker said.
Miss Virginias don't wear the crown as much as they used to. "It depends on the appearance," Baker said. "Whenever small children are around or there's a school appearance, they wear the crown."
Baker can't remember a Miss Virginia ever losing a crown - in the lost-and-found sense of the word. "Most of the time, a Miss Virginia will be very careful with the crown," she said. "But one time a couple stones came out and we sent it back. Schoppy sent us a new one."
A few loose stones are the least of the manufacturer's worries, though.
"The biggest enemy of the crown is when you put it on their head and have their hair done up around it and it's loaded with hairspray," Talarico said. "That's a major problem. We use soft tissue paper and toilet paper to clean the grease off. But once hair spray gets on it, the stones start to become yellow."
Then, he said, there's nothing that can be done.
by CNB