Pageant News Bureau - National Sweetheart 2003

You won't find skyscrapers in the Illinois town of Hoopeston. You won't find mountains, forests or an ocean, and you certainly won't find a boardwalk. What you will find is farmland. As far as the eye can see, every inch of the flat, rich earth seems to be under cultivation.

Hoopeston doesn't sound flashy, and it's not. But it is a friendly place, and it grows some of the finest crops in America, especially its famous sweetcorn. When you drive into town, you get a comfortable feeling, like you're coming home to have dinner with Mom and Dad.

Or maybe you're just coming home to see a pageant. One of the most endearing and enduring beauty competitions anywhere -- National Sweetheart -- is an annual ritual in Hoopeston.

The Sweetheart competition, part of the National Sweetcorn Festival, has been a Hoopeston tradition for more than 60 years. And it's unique in the pageant world, because all its contestants must be runners-up from state Miss America preliminaries.

This has to be the biggest small-town pageant in America. It doesn't make a lot of noise, but every year, dozens of young women from around the country answer its call. Hoopeston is rarely the end of the pageant line for these young women. Some will eventually compete at Miss America in Atlantic City, and some of them will win Miss America. It has happened often before.

In 2003, PNB came to Hoopeston to see the Sweetheart phenomenon up close. The people were delightful, just as we thought they would be. The corn was fresh and cooked to perfection. And the pageant was charming and unpretentious.

The winner of the contest was the stunning Kandice Pelletier of Georgia. She has danced professionally in New York, and already has a loyal following in the pageant world. She was featured on PNB in summer 2003. And she's back already! Thanks, Hoopeston.

We liked the town, we liked the corn, we liked the beauties. We can't wait till next year.

Kandice Pelletier'sSweetheart year

Kandice Pelletier's
Sweetheart year