Pageant News Bureau - Miss Montana USA 2000

P a g e a n t N e w s B u r e a u

A good start
in September

Photos by Benjamin Gibbs / PNB

The summer of 2000 was a rough one for Montana. With the vast forests baked brittle by drought, wildfires were too widespread to defeat, almost too numerous to count. The state's firefighters were stretched so thin that reinforcements had to be called in from around the world.

But by early September, this seemingly endless summer was finally looking like just another mean season. The weather turned cooler and wetter, and the armies of firefighters began to make real progress.

The worst was over, though the work was far from complete. Even the tourists were starting to return.

There was something else to celebrate, something that comes to the northern Rockies just as regularly as the cycles of nature. The Miss Montana USA and Miss Montana Teen USA Pageant convened in Billings on the first weekend of September.

CaCe Hardy (seated right) of Kalispell was crowned Miss Montana USA, while Kristi Krings (seated left) of Billings was crowned Miss Montana Teen USA.

Montana will long remember the heroism of its fire crews. And pageant fans will never forget the two young women who won their crowns as summer entered its final phase. As these two young women advance to their national pageants, they may make 2000 a year to look back on with fondness.

And it was raining money

Organizers of the Montana USA / Montana Teen USA Pageant held a raffle to benefit victims of the wildfires. They collected $230.

In distant Shreveport, La., a week earlier, when Montana's Renae Skogen was competing for the Miss Teen USA title, a local church showed its own compassion and generosity. Members raised $100 for the Montana cause.

P a g e a n t N e w s B u r e a u

A good startin September

And it was raining money

A good start
in September