St. Pauls gives a rousing sendoff to Miss North Carolina Victoria Huggins

By Chick Jacobs - Staff writer

Posted Aug 10, 2017 at 9:09 PM

For at least a day, Victoria Huggins was back home among family and friends, all wishing her well in the Miss America Pageant next month.

ST. PAULS — Somewhere on Thursday, between the crown-teetering dancing to Tina Turner and giggling with high school friends and family, Miss North Carolina got to be just Victoria Huggins again.

At least for one more time.

Starting today, there are precious few opportunities for the St. Pauls native and Miss America contestant to kick back and relax. Heck, there was barely time to do so Thursday night.

“Some of us were thinking, ‘You know it would be nice to give Victoria a sendoff,’ ” said longtime family friend Sara Hayes, ladling ice into a punch bowl. “Then we started looking at her calendar. This was the only day she had free time, and this was it. And we had like eight days to put things together.

“But we’d have moved mountains for Victoria. We watched her grow up here.”

There may be swankier sendoffs for other Miss America contestants, but it’s a safe bet none of them had the mayor mop the floor for them. Mayor Jerry Weindel was part of the crew that put together the short-notice soiree. Other friends fixed appetizers, set up the music and made sure their Miss NC was comfortable.

She posed for pictures, compared crowns with pre-teen pageant contestants and had a hug and a personally autographed picture for everyone. At one point a little girl asked if she could try Huggins’s crown on for size. She nodded, unfastening an array of bobby pins that held it in place and gently plopped it on the girl’s head.

“It’s heavy,” the youngster said.

“That’s the weight of the state of North Carolina on your head,” Huggins said with a grin. “You have to wear it proudly.” 

Huggins, 23, won the Miss North Carolina title in her final year of eligibility after claiming the Miss Greater Sampson County crown. But she’s been performing much of her life. Grandmother Sybil Huggins, herself a former Miss St. Pauls, remembered Huggins’ first public performance.

“She sang ‘Arky, Arky,’ at the First Baptist Church here in St. Pauls,” she recalled. “I don’t remember the song, but it was about Noah’s Ark.”

Huggins has claimed several regional titles, including Miss Fayetteville in 2013. She appeared on “American Idol,” appearing just after her grandfather Charles Huggins died.

“Charles always said that Victoria was his Miss America,” Sybil Huggins said. “I wish he had gotten to see this. Well, maybe he is watching up there.”

Several people from St. Pauls plan to follow Huggins to the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in September. Others have already begun online voting to help their hometown contestant claim a spot in the Top 15 on Sept. 11.

“There’s nothing that would make me happier than to bring the Miss America title back to my home in St. Pauls,” she said.

Until then, her schedule is packed with meetings, appearances and rehearsals. Being Miss North Carolina means little time to anything else.

Which is why Thursday’s opportunity, however brief, to be just Victoria Huggins among family and friends was so welcome.

“You’ve heard it said it takes a village to raise a child,” Huggins said, fighting back a few tears. “I’m living proof of that. There are so many wonderful people here, friends family, folks I’ve known forever. I’m just overwhelmed with the love expressed here tonight.”

http://www.fayobserver.com/news/20170810/st-pauls-gives-rousing-sendoff-to-miss-north-carolina-victoria-huggins