On Saturday, I had the honor of judging the “Miss Moxie Pageant” held at Lisbon Falls Baptist Church’s gymnasium.  I had never judged a beauty pageant before.  I wore a favorite Lily Pulitzer skirt, some Jack Rogers sandals, and carried my old high school Bermuda bag with a new cover.

I even had an opportunity to practice my “Duchess Slant”

I know nothing about pageantry, but former USA National Miss Maine Shelby Cash did an excellent job of pulling the event together.  She prepared binders for the judges that included resumes of all the contestants.  Since my interviewing has been limited to corporate hiring, I was struck to read the resume of a pre-kindergarten contestant for the title of Junior Miss Moxie.  She’s already got 2 years of ballet under her belt and she “can’t wait to go to kindergarten.”

This was her third pageant.

Another Junior Miss Contestant’s resume said she knew her ABC’s, could count to 30, and knew the Greek alphabet.  She recited the latter for us during her interview.

The event was fabulous and I’m pleased I can now add “Pageant Judge” to my own resume.

Earlier in the day, at 2:00 a.m. to be exact, I woke up in a panic and jumped out of bed.  The Moxie Festival is 40 days away and in spite of my composure at the pageant, I’m freaking out a little bit inside.  There’s a lot to do and it’s time to move away from creating new ideas to implementing everything that’s ready to go.  With that in mind, I performed a “symbolic gesture” this morning.

I walked up to the Lisbon Industrial Park.  When I was in high school, we called it “The Oval.”  It was the sometimes route of track practice, a great place to learn how to drive a standard, and an occasional place for a clandestine beer with friends.  It’s also the staging location for the Moxie Festival Parade.

Using this as my starting point, I walked the parade route.  With ear buds pumping favorite songs into my auditory canal, I visualized what it will be like in 41 days when we get the Moxie show on the road.  Singing along with the Dropkick Murphys, I changed the lyrics of their classic song.  “We’re shipping up to Moxie…”

Listen, friends, I may not be able to write much here on the blog until Moxie is over.  You want me to live to tell about it, right?  I’ve got one too many plates spinning in the air right now.  So I will share some old posts from past festivals and we will meet here again in 40 days or so.

Please like The Moxie Festival page on Facebook and if you’re around town on July 12, 13, and 14^th, I hope you’ll find me in the crowds and say “Hello.”