The Miss South Dakota Pagent, an official preliminary to the Miss America pagent, has always been held in Hot Springs, South Dakota. On the day of the final competition the city puts on a parade featuring the contestants. The local fire department takes the opportunity to show off their hardware, while I take the opportunity to practice using my rather complicated SLR camera. The camera has so many settings, buttons, and dials that if I don’t use it on a regular basis, I will lose my currency and have to start my task book all over again.
Here are a few shots I took today at the parade. Most of them were taken in a staging area, without many spectators.
![IMG_3242a Miss South Dakota](https://wildfiretoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/IMG_3242a.jpg)
![IMG_3208 Miss South Dakota](https://wildfiretoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/IMG_3208.jpg)
![IMG_3259a Miss South Dakota](https://wildfiretoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/IMG_3259a.jpg)
![IMG_3210a Miss South Dakota](https://wildfiretoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/IMG_3210a.jpg)
![IMG_3235 Hot Springs, SD fire department](https://wildfiretoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/IMG_3235.jpg)
![IMG_3237 Hot Springs, SD fire department](https://wildfiretoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/IMG_3237.jpg)
UPDATE @ 11:00 p.m., June 19
The results are in and Loren Vaillancourt won. She is Miss South Dakota for 2010 and will represent the state in the Miss America pagent. Here is a photo of her in the parade.
![Miss_South_Dakota_2010 Miss South Dakota, 2010](https://wildfiretoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Miss_South_Dakota_2010.jpg)
I have never been there for a parade with beauty queens, but downtown Hot Springs with those grand sandstone buildings is my architectural favorite in South Dakota.
Adorable!