New Mexico royalty puts on show

STAFF WRITER

[email protected]

link Staff photo: Rae Arnett

Miss New Mexico Marissa Livingston shows one of her visitation dresses after the Miss New Mexico Style Showcase and Send-Off Party on Saturday afternoon.

The Miss New Mexico Style Show and Send-Off Party went off without a hitch Saturday afternoon at the Eastern New Mexico University Campus Union Building Ballroom.

Miss New Mexico Marissa Livingston will leave today for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, then she will go on to New York City to appear on Good Morning America, and finally, on to Atlantic City on Wednesday where she will compete for the title of Miss America.

Saturday's style show featured many area pageant competitors, including Miss Portales, Miss Alamogordo, Miss Ruidoso and Miss Otero County.

Miss New Mexico’s Outstanding Teen Sasha Butcher performed her talent of singing multiple times throughout the show, including her official talent song ("Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera) from her Orlando competition, which occurred earlier this year.

Livingston said she has been working on her talent for the pageant as well as preparing for the 10-minute interview portion of the competition. She also said her fitness has been a priority, especially with all of the traveling she has been doing.

Livingston, who was born and raised in New Mexico, said it was always a dream of hers to be Miss New Mexico.

“It is an honor to represent the state. There is an enchantment about the state, truly," said Livingston. "It is a dream come true to represent New Mexico.”

Livingston said she anticipates the most challenging part of the Miss America pageant to be the lack of sleep.

“I will have a very full schedule, but I am very excited. I am hoping I will be so excited my adrenaline will kick in,” said Livingston.

Voting for “America’s Choice,” which automatically places the winning contestant in the top 15, can be done using Facebook or Twitter, according to Livingston, who said all you have to do is post something mentioning “Miss New Mexico” and use: #MissAmericaVote.

She said this can be done one time per day until Sept. 10.

This style showcase was the first of many, according to Livingston.

Miss Southern New Mexico 2015 Hannah Giles, from the the U.S. pageant, was in attendance helping the participants of the style showcase.

“I love helping out, because I competed in this pageant last year and met all of these wonderful girls, including Marissa. I have since aged out of the Miss America pageant, but I still want to see the program do well and to wish Marissa luck before she leaves for competition,” said Giles.

The next Miss New Mexico Pageant will take place at ENMU June 13- 16, 2016.