A VERY PATRIOTIC

MISS OHIO COMPETITION--





The stage of Mansfield's Renaissance Theater sizzled with the sights and sounds of a proud US of A during Friday night's final preliminary event of the 2011 Miss Ohio competition.

Veterans and firemen and policemen and all first-responders to the nation's grief were honored throughout the show--often described by many as the most elaborate of productions in these competitions leading to the crowning of Miss America.

Firemen from the Madison Township and Mansfield city fire departments closed the show with a solemn remembrance of the nation's loss on September 11, 2001 (top right) while they shared a piece of steel from the structure of the destroyed World Trade Center in New York.

Fogeyisms enjoyed a warm sense of pride sitting in the ambiance of this marvelous theater that evening while our small-town USA strutted its stuff.

In the big picture of life's events beauty pageants are often but pleasant distractions.  On this evening, this pageant raised the bar.

Substantially.