Show Me Your Shoes!

Parade Day!
Me in my "Minnie Mouse" Influenced Parade outfit!
Today seemed like it went by extremely fast. It is funny that when on vacation how quickly time passes by, and that became evident tonight. But nonetheless, today was such a fun day!

We woke up (yet again!) very early, but (yet again!) we enjoyed a delicious breakfast before the parade sponsored by the Jr. Women's Club at the United Methodist Church right next to downtown Main Street. I have never been in such a large parade before! The Illinois Corvette Club sponsored us and we each had our OWN Corvette and driver! Are you ready for this? We had police escorts with lights and sirens. I confess- I loved it.

Jack and Judy were such good sports. Jack wore the Minnie Mouse ears! I was concerned my drivers might not exactly go for the idea of wearing ears and gloves, but it all worked out exactly like it was supposed to.For a town of less than 6,000 people, there sure were a lot of people there! The little kids were so cute. They would scream, “Jenna, Jenna, Jenna!” and then as soon as I would look and wave, they would bury their smiles into their hands and shrug their shoulders and twist around.

The Miss America pageant had a “Show us your shoes!” tradition. One of the parade traditions is for the contestants to wear shoes decorated to commemorate their home states. As they go by in classic Cadillacs, for insurance, the parade watchers yell out "show me your shoes!" There are varying reports of the origin of the parade tradition; most claim that it dates way back to the early days of the pageants when the sailors stationed in Atlantic City would yell it so that the women would raise their shoes and the sailors would then get a glimpse at their legs. Obviously that is a very different time than now... other’s reported that a drag queen named Tinsel Garland would dress as Dorothy from the film The Wizard of Oz and crash the Miss America Boardwalk Parade. The crowd would yell “Show us your shoes!” and Garland would reveal her ruby slippers. Whichever true, the Miss America “Show us your shoes!” Parade tradition ended when the pageant moved to Las Vegas in 2006, however, Hoopeston has kept the tradition very much alive.
Besides drawing thousands and the contestants from across the states, Puerto Rico, and D.C. in classic convertibles, there were high school marching bands, floats, Disney characters, celebrities like Ronald McDonald, local queens and their courts, and much, much more. The whole day felt very 1950s to me- a time when culture was very different; I could not help but feel longing for a slower, simpler time.
After the parade, the contestants got to pass by our panel of judges. All of a sudden, we turned the final corner and I heard a pandemonium of cheers, “Hiiiii Jenna! JENNA, Jeeeeeenna, JENNA! Hi, Hi Hi!!! Woooooo!!!! Woo, woo, woo!” All of our judges were lined up in lawn chairs arms waving furiously in the air. I beamed and squealed with delight back.

Sweetheart Class of 2009 Show Me Your Shoes Parade Girls

Waving to the crowd from my hot CorvetteIt was a HUGE turnout with thousands and thousands of screaming fans!
The beginning of the parade with the marshals

With my "drivers" and my ED Stephanie Schutt


LUNCH AT HOOPESTON FIRE DEPARTMENT
After the parade, we had lunch at the level 4 fire station. This means that the fire station has a response time of 5 minutes or less. This was extremely impressive, especially because ALL of the men are volunteers. How incredible and inspiring.

Posing with The Boys!West Coast Girls!All of the Troops. (I am on the top row)Quick pose by the Fire Engine.We had to say thank you to the man on the end for washing our dishes (he was the rookie of the gang, thus earned the privilege of washing all of the dishes!) These men are all volunteers.After lunch at the firestation we had a few hours of free time, so we came back home and I packed and rested a bit for that night. Monica had a great dinner prepared and we munched on salads, this delicious fruit concoction with whipped cream and a lot of different fruits, vegetables and dips, and a lot of other foods. Monica must have known we had swimsuit that night! We stopped at Dairy Queen for a Blizzard, and I got one to eat after the show! How can you resist Dairy Queen... it's like all these years I've been alive I've wished that I could go to a place and just order whatever I want. Well, they say be careful what you wish for, because it just might come true... and it did. There was every reason not to eat it, but every reason to want to.

With Harold Simpson, the owner of Dairy Queen and my roommates: From left to right: Alex Miller (KS), Me (CA) Harold, Kristina Janolo (FL), and Sarina Turnbull (NM)
Eating a DELICIOUS Blizzard. And yes. Yes, this was on my swimsuit night.