ABSTRACT
I think it would be well to establish clearly what queen pageants are all about in small towns in Minnesota: how they are organized and carried out, who participates, and so on.2 Most queen pageants in Minnesota are now part of communities' summer festivals. This placement is relevant to understanding the pageant for two major reasons: first, it frames the pageant as play; second, it connects the pageant with the overarching symbolism of the festival as representing the community to itself and to a wider world. The pageant, which is very much a local event (with one important exception, discussed below) is thus connected with the official ideology of community identification.
