MISS HOMEGROWN: THE PERFORMANCE OF FOOD, FESTIVAL, AND FEMININITY IN LOCAL QUEEN PAGEANTS Heather A.Williams A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY August 2009 Committee: Dr. Ronald Shields, Advisor Dr. Lynda Dee Dixon Graduate Faculty Representative Dr. Jonathan Chambers Dr. Lesa Lockford ii ABSTRACT Dr. Ronald Shields, Advisor The cultural phenomenon of the beauty pageant, one could argue, is deeply embedded in the gendered performance of the feminine ideal. Although, in recent years, the Miss America Pageant appears to be fading into kitschy nostalgia, the local pageant remains a celebratory and respected event held in many small Midwestern communities. The appeal of the pageant as a performance genre continues to reflect the qualities of the American feminine ideal – beauty, perfection, “healthy” competition, consumption, and consumerism. However, local pageants are often rooted within festival celebration and thereby represent and maintain the social and consumer values inherent in each individual community. Using case studies of local festival pageants held in the Midwestern state of Ohio as well as interviews with pageant contestants, in this study I locate the ways in which contestants perform, within the given boundaries of the pageant, a small town version of the feminine ideal. In relation to the values of economy and prosperity that local festival celebrates, I specifically examine festivals that are centered on the celebration of food. In doing so, I equate the gendered performance of the young female body in relation to the food whose title she bears and identify how the feminine body is at once consumed and celebrated by the local community. As queen pageants are contested feminist terrain, it is my hope that this study provides a new and provocative look at local femininity as defined by small town community through the valuing and celebration of the young female representative in local pageant performance. iii For my Mother and Father who taught me the value of sugar beets and tiaras. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to extend my sincerest gratitude and respect to my committee co-chairs, Ronald Shields and Jonathan Chambers, as well as to Lesa Lockford, Lynda Dee Dixon, and Leigh Ann Wheeler for serving, throughout my process, on my committee. I am grateful for their scholarly advice, valuable time, and enduring patience as I moved through this project. I offer my appreciation to the Department of Theatre and Film at Bowling Green State University for awarding me the 2007-2008 Dissertation Fellowship. Without it, I would have never had the opportunities to travel as I did for my research. To the young women who spoke with me during the interview process, I am forever grateful for your willingness to contribute. I also thank Marty Smith and Sue Shamhart for unselfishly providing me with food, flavored coffee, shelter, and companionship on that very first festival event – you helped get the ball rolling! I express my appreciation to Micheal Anders, Marie Louden Hanes, Vicki McClurkin, and Kathy Newell at The University of Findlay for their continued support of my progress as I worked through my first full-time faculty position and the end of this project. I am grateful to Lucy, Emma, and Morgan for keeping me company by sitting on my papers and my lap throughout the process. Finally, to Jim - my partner in life, love, and academia – thank you for appreciating my femininity and my feminism. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION: PAGEANTRY AND THE FEMININE IDEAL........... 1 Statement of Key Research Questions……………………………………………... 4 Contributions and New Knowledge………………………………………………... 12 Limitations………………………………………………………………………….. 16 Theoretical Framework…………………………………………….......................... 18 Femininity or Feminism?............................................................................... 19 Performance ................................................................................................... 24 Miss America: History and Beyond.............................................................. 26 Consumption and Beauty............................................................................... 32 Festival, Rites of Passage, and Community................................................... 36 Food and Festival........................................................................................... 39 Additional Sources......................................................................................... 41 Summary…………………………………………………………………………… 42 CHAPTER II. MISS AMERICA, A CONTESTED HISTORY .......................................... 43 Feminine Performances Presently Past: The Miss America Pageant ....................... 43 Bra-Burners Versus Beauty Queens: Mediated Recognition.................................... 45 Victorian Leisure: A Moral Entertainment............................................................... 50 Festival Flavor: The First Fall Frolics ...................................................................... 59 Cleaning Up Her Image: Miss America Re-Vamped ............................................... 62 CHAPTER III. FOOD, FESTIVAL, AND FEMININITY: THE PLAY OF LOCAL PAGEANTRY……………………………………………………………………………... 64 vi Sugar Beets and Ox Cart Days: A Personal and Narrative History.......................... 64 Festival Celebration: Presenting the “Ideal” Community......................................... 76 American Turkey and French Wine: Food as Symbol.............................................. 78 Telling Stories: Audiencing the Festival................................................................... 84 The Festival Road Trip: First Stop, Milan Ohio....................................................... 85 Walking the Walk: The Milan Melon Queen Pageant.............................................. 100 Seeds of Discontent: Awaiting the Judges’ Decision ............................................... 111 And the Winner Is...................................................................................................... 117 CHAPTER IV. ABUNDANT FEMININTY: TOMATOES, GRAPES, AND PUMPKINS………………………………………………………………………………... 126 Lunching with the Queens: The Reynoldsburg Tomato Festival ............................. 126 Let Us Eat: Feasting on Femininity .......................................................................... 131 Questioning the Feminine: The Reynoldsburg Tomato Festival .............................. 138 Sell it Girl: The Miss Grapette Pageant .................................................................... 150 Miss Grapette Pageant Finale: The “Best” of the Bunch.......................................... 162 Femininity Transplanted to Festival Grounds: The Geneva Grape JAMboree ........ 168 Size Matters: The Circleville Pumpkin Show........................................................... 171 Community or Competition: The Miss Pumpkin Show Queen Contest................... 177 CHAPTER V. ROYAL VOICES ......................................................................................... 187 Local Misses: Borrowing and Adapting Miss America............................................ 193 I’m Not a Pageant Girl: Stereotypes Re-Examined .................................................. 199 Do You Have a Bobby Pin? Creating Female Community ...................................... 203 Rewards of Representation ........................................................................................ 206 vii Pricing Femininity: The Cost of Competition .......................................................... 211 Promotional Speaker: The Queen Contestant as Community Spokesperson ........... 213 Swimsuits, Evening Gowns and High Heels: A Performance of A“wear”ness ....... 216 The Question: Are You a Feminist? ......................................................................... 220 CHAPTER VI. CONCLUSION ........................................................................................... 224 Restatement of Major Research Question/s and Methods ......................................... 224 Summary of Findings................................................................................................. 226 Expanded Interpretive Research ................................................................................ 237 Concluding Thoughts................................................................................................. 237 REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................... 239 APPENDIX A. RECRUITMENT FLYER........................................................................... 249 APPENDIX B. INTERVIEW QUESTIONS........................................................................ 250 APPENDIX C. INFORMED CONSENT FORM ................................................................ 253 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1 Melon Man as Grand Marshal of the Milan Melon Festival Parade.......................... 97 2 The 2007-2008 Milan Melon Queen on Her Watermelon Throne ............................ 99 3 The 2007-2008 Milan Melon Queen on Her Musk Melon Throne ........................... 100 4 The 2007-2008 Milan Melon Queen Contestants...................................................... 110 5 The Reynoldsburg Tomato Festival Luncheon Hosts and Visiting Royalty ............. 137 6 The Royal Bounty on Display