Pageant send-off coming to Portales

Miss New Mexico 2015 Marissa Livingston is headed to the Miss America Pageant but not before the Miss New Mexico Scholarship Organization celebrates her send-off with the Miss New Mexico Style Show and Send-Off Party Saturday at Eastern New Mexico University.

The event, which is open to the public, will be held from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the ENMU CUB Ballroom. Tickets can be purchased at the door for $20.

Livingston will be showcasing her wardrobe and talent for the Miss America Pageant, which takes place Sept.13 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

“It will be a great opportunity for people to really see what I’ve been working so hard for these past several months to get to this point,” Livingston said. “Everyone can expect to be blown away by the amazing wardrobes, and the wonderful thing is the tickets support our scholarships to help us get our degree or pay for something in college and help us provide for a better future.”

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Joining Livingston at the event to showcase their wardrobes and talents will be Miss New Mexico first runner-up Stephanie Chavez (Miss Rio Rancho) and Miss New Mexico’s Outstanding Teen 2015 Sasha Butcher (Miss Las Vegas' Outstanding Teen).

Butcher will be modeling the wardrobe she competed in at Miss America’s Outstanding Teen 2016 in Orlando, Florida, and Chavez will be modeling the wardrobe she will be using to compete at the National Sweetheart Pageant in Hoopeston, Illinois.

Livingston, who is from Albuquerque, competed against 22 other women on June 20 at ENMU’s University Theater Center and was crowned Miss New Mexico 2015.

“I’ve been able to grow so much as a person throughout this experience, and that is what I am taking with me,” she said.

With her title, Livingston works with her platform “For the Kids,” which supports the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals through dance marathons.

“Dance marathons are this huge nation-wide movement where people stand on their feet for hours at a time without sitting or resting,” Livingston said. “They raise money and awareness for kids being treated at Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.”

Livingston co-founded the first dance marathon in New Mexico in 2012. Since its inception, the marathon has gone on to raise more than $69,000 for the hospitals.

“In New Mexico, we only have one Children’s Miracle Network Hospital that treats 62,000 children from throughout the state,” Livingston said. “They even treat part of West Texas and East Arizona, so it is very important to support that cause.”

Along with working on her platform, Livingston has taken several trips since winning the title, including one to Dallas, Texas, to pick up her wardrobe and to watch the Miss Texas pageant.

“It was a great experience to watch a pageant without having to compete in it for once,” she said. “It was kind of refreshing to sit in the audience; I really enjoyed that.”

Livingston and Butcher were given the opportunity to take a trip to Chicago, Illinois, by their clothing provider, Shimmer Boutique, where they got to model on a runway fashion show.

Livingston also spent a week in Orlando, Florida, meeting her fellow Miss America contestants, attending orientation, going to Disney World and filming public relations for Dick Clark Productions.

Since then, Livingston has been working hard preparing for the competition and juggling a busy schedule.

“I’ve been sharpening all of the skills I was able to bring to Miss New Mexico to win this title and doing everything I can to hopefully win the Miss America crown,” she said. “My days are kind of crazy — fitting in appearances with lunch, rehearsals, working out and interview preparations — but I’ve been able to get everything in with good time management.”

Livingston has also been focused on amping up votes for a contest the Miss America Organization is allowing this year. The public can vote once per day on social media sites, and the contestant with the highest amount of votes gets into the top 15 for the Miss America Pageant.

“All anyone has to do to vote for me is post a Facebook status or tweet on Twitter that says #MissAmericaVoteMissNewMexico,” she said. “It goes overall to supporting me and getting me to the top 15, which gets me on television and gets me to hopefully be the next Miss America.”

Having the chance to be among 52 women competing for the title of Miss America is something Livingston said she knows she’ll be able to look back on with pride.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” she said. “I’ve worked hard, and I’m ready to get there, meet everyone and compete.”