Reynoldsburg Tomato Festival 2017

One of my greatest accomplishments.

A couple weeks ago on August 18th 2017, the yearly Reynoldsburg Tomato Festival Queen was crowned once again for the 52nd time. That lucky queen happened to be me, Mia White. I can not express all of my excitement right now, so let me start at the beginning of how this all happened.

Now, I have only entered a pageant once before and it was super fun, but unfortunately I did not place. I was either thirteen or fourteen years old and someone had nominated me to enter the National American Miss Pre-Teen Competition (I still do not know who nominated me to this day). Although it was only my first pageant, I was really upset that I only got to state finalist, and so I never did it again. I'm dramatic, I know.

Years and years later, something had sparked in me. It is now my senior year of high school and my goal this year is to try things that I would normally be too afraid to do. I am attempting to break out of my comfortable shell. So, I decided I would run in this Tomato Queen Competition. I reached out to the past years First Attendant, and she helped me get involved.

Shortly after I mailed out my volunteer application, I was invited to an informational meeting about the competition and how it would all go down. The other contestants and I met with the coordinator, Mike Motz, and the past years queen and first attendant. At the meeting they just went over rules, dress code, and what we would need to do at the festival the next upcoming week.

The next Sunday we had a luncheon with all contestants and their families. Following our luncheon was the scary part, personal interviews. I had to go into interviews last because it was in alphabetical order and that had to be the worse part. I watched each pretty girl walk out of the interview room with a big smile on their face and it made my anxiety and nervous jitters shoot out of the roof. Those girls seemed to be so pleased with how their interviews went, so that meant it was going to be a tough competition.

After an hour or so of thinking the worst of what could happen, my name was called, I took a slow deep breath, and I walked in with the biggest smile. There were four judges, all women, and all really sweet. I took a seat and my nerves automatically flew off of my back, it was going to be just fine. After some time, I left that room with the same smile I saw that all of those other girls had and I was feeling confident for the upcoming competition.

Fast forwarding, it was the day of the annual festival. Based on how I felt about my personal interviews I'm sure one could only imagine how I felt today. Yet actually, I was not nervous at all. I felt completely relaxed. I usually do not get tense about speaking in front of an audience anyhow. Normally, I would probably get jitters about the competition aspect but I decided to just go with the flow. It occurred to me that even though I may not win, I was proud of myself for trying, and that is all that mattered to me.

So, I got on stage with the seven other girls and watched as each of them gave their short introduction about themselves. Some of the girls struggled a bit with their words and being on stage, so I really felt for them. As each girl finished I cheered them on and finally, it was my turn. I took a stand, held the microphone and went blank on the speech that I had been practicing and memorizing all week long. So I paused, disappointed, and then I looked into the audience. I saw a group of my friends smiling at me, my family taking pictures of me, my sister calling my name, and my dad, just watching. My dad smiled at me, and in that instant everything came back into my mind.

No one had noticed that I went blank because it only happened in a matter of seconds, but to me it felts like years. I grinned, and began my introduction. It went very well from what I believe and then came the fish bowl questions. My question was "what was you greatest accomplishment and why?".

The first thing that came to my mind was winning my fourth grade spelling bee. Can you believe that? Fourth grade. I must not be that successful, I giggled to myself. I began to tell the judges why it was such a heart warming experience and how happy I was to make my dad proud. I could just see him smiling in the crowd, while everyone else was slightly laughing at how animated I got talking about my fourth grade spelling bee.

If I am being honest, after I had sat down I thought I blew it. Why could I not answer with some accomplishment I had gotten from helping others, or some type of community service? I just had to answer with a fourth grade accomplishment, I thought. Shortly after I finished the competition with the last fish bowl question, first attendant was announced, Miranda Bickert, my best friend from junior high. She was so excited.

Before I knew it I was zoned out and was not paying attention to anything around me. All of a sudden I heard my name and a bunch of people cheering. Queen. Me. I couldn't believe it! It was such an adrenaline rush as I got out of my seat to be crowned and congratulated. I have not been that happy with myself in such a long time. August 18th, 2017. What a day to remember.

Since the Tomato Festival I have participated in the Obetz Zucchini Festival Parade as well as the Millersport Sweet Corn Festival Parade. Both parades were a blast and I can not wait to attend so many more, including the queens luncheons. I am just truly blessed to be able to experience this and get this opportunity. Stay tuned for more stories!

xoxo,

Your Queen Mia

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