Anna Kathryn selected curls as her hairstyle of choice after practicing several hairstyles throughout the week and deciding curly hair was the best option.

Baker said she styled hair for 13 years before she had children so it wasn’t difficult styling her daughter’s hair.

“It was just deciding on what style we thought was best and going with that,” Baker said.

Tara Littleton said her daughter Averie, 6, started gaining interest in pageants after her older sister Ivie, 8, started entering pageants.

“Averie decided she wanted to start competing in them as well and she has really enjoyed it,” Littleton said.

Averie wore curlers in her hair the afternoon leading up to Friday night’s pageant as she had a hairstylist working on her hair for the big night.

“We are going to have to use baking soda after the pageant to get all of the hairspray out of her hair,” Littleton said. “Baking soda will remove the hairspray from her hair because we end up using a lot for the pageant.”

Most of the girls spent an hour prior to the pageant making sure last-minute details were in line for the evening including last minute touches to hair, dresses fluffed, and the contestants wishing each other good luck before the curtain was drawn.

Calloway said putting together a pageant requires many backstage individuals working to ensure the event is a success.

“You have to have people working on many different things in order for a pageant to run smoothly,” Calloway said. “There are many small details going into putting a pageant together and without many helping hands it would not be possible.”

Calloway said the Miss Chilton County pageant, is an agricultural pageant that represents all the agricultural commodities within the county.

“The pageant is a great way for girls within the county to meet other girls they might not have had the opportunity to meet prior to the pageant,” Calloway said. “They have a party to meet everyone participating in the pageant and each one of the past year’s queens in their age division will host a party for everyone to get together.”

Even though Anna Kathryn did not win the title of Little Miss Chilton County, she was selected to the top 10 and was inspired to do many more pageants.

“This will not be our first and only pageant,” Baker said. “She (Anna Kathryn) has already told me to sign her up for many more. She absolutely loved the whole experience.”