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Show People, Politics & Policy PG kids 'greatest' By E.MARK BEZZANT Another Strawberry Days Queen Pageant is history, and we have 1 further evidence that what John P. Gourley said is true. "The kids in Pleasant Grove are the greatest kids on earth." Our new principal Tom Carlile has told me many times that is in fact the case but the people just don't realize it. Take our newly crowned Strawberry Days Queen for an example. Karen Harmer went through the normal schools in Pleasant Grove. She took an active part in school activities and took advantage of the opportunities in 4-H. 4-H. She won a number of awards in the 4-H program and went to Utah, State University on a scholarship. Karen did a lot of work with initiating the Youth City Council while she was in school. On one occasion I chatted with some school officials at Utah State about how Karen was doing. They just raved about how glad they were to have her as one of the Aggies. The whole story isn't done yet. Over the years Jay and Carol Harmer have spent countless hours : working with and supporting this j beautiful young lady. In addition to the talent a lot of folks saw last Saturday, there is an inner beauty that will take this girl a long way in life. If she chooses to stay around we might have the first woman i mayor in Pleasant Grove history on our hands. Whatever the case, she will certainly represent us well, in ! the coming months. Now take the first attendant Julie : Brown. She has been everything I from the vice president of the high school to Dorothy in the "Wizard of Oz". She sings like a lark and dances far better than Lawrence -i Welk. Lee and Judy Brown have spent a small fortune on lessons for this little queen, and it has paid off. 1 ! Lots of support from home. I Ellen Lloyd, . our second at- 1 tendant to the Strawberry Queen, is ' a wonderful gal as well. Just I recently I had an opportunity to visit with Ellen and her Dad while making final plans for graduation , and college. The boys will be disappointed to know she has to stay i single for another year. Ellen has ' been a part of Mr. Tuckers choir program for the past few years and does a marvelous job. It isn't hard to understand why the girls themselves picked Becky Pratt as Miss Congeniality. Her smile is infectious around school as well as at home. What is great about it all is that there were no losers in Saturday's pageant. In their own right each of the girls came out a winner. Each one displayed talents that have been long in the making. By associating with the lovely ladies who organize the pageant each year the girls have come off the winners. Each one now stands a little taller, and walks more like the queen she really is, and can become. The royalty will now go throughout the state promoting Strawberry Days and the best of Pleasant Grove. They will visit city concils and mayors of all Utah County, church leaders, and heads of state. For sure, Governor Bangeter needs a case of those delicious "P.G." strawberries. A Provo photographer told me just a few months ago something you might be interested in. He said that he takes photos at most of the school dances in the valley and at a number of colleges. He said that the girls in Pleasant Grove are the prettiest girls in the state. You know it and I know it. Just look on the walls, pianos, dressers, and shelves of the homes in this city and you will see photos of the most beautiful girls in the world. Beauty that is more than skin deep. Lasting beauty. Well, if we are going to send these beautiful girls out advertising Pleasant Grove and Strawberry-Days Strawberry-Days we had better be getting busy sprucing things up. If we are going to send the most beautiful girls in the world out advertising Pleasant Grove we had better have the most beautiful city in the world for the people to come and see. We had best be making plans now to fix up, clean up, paint up and beautify this fair city. Lets not wait for the neighbors. Grant Atwood's free calendar once said that beauty begins at home. Lets not just try to outdo Springville, or American Fork, or Spanish Fork. Let us not rest until every lot, home, barn, shed, or property, however large or small, is a place or thing of beauty. Let Pleasant Grove not only be the most beautifully situated city in Utah County let it be the most beautiful city in all the world. We can do it because there are no better people in all the world than right here in Pleasant Grove. Before long we just might well have a beautiful civic center which includes a library to serve the people. |