The Miss LSU-USA Pageant is March 14 at 5 p.m. in the LSU Student Union Theatre and viewers can livestream the pageant at home through a livestream link.
The pageant is a Delta Zeta sorority fundraiser that benefits the Starkey Hearing Foundation, American Society for Deaf Children, SeriousFun Children’s Network, the Emerge Center and St. Lillian’s Academy. Delta Zeta raises funds through CrowdChange, a website where people cannot donate directly, ticket sales and ad sales from local businesses.
This year’s ticket sales look different because the pageant cannot have a live audience. The livestream tickets are sold on the LSU Student Union Theater’s website. The link to the livestream will be sent 30 minutes prior to the event.
“Live streaming has been a challenge,” Director of Public Relations Maddie Diez said. “It was hard to find enough music for a whole pageant that is not licensed, we can’t even use the National Anthem.”
The pageant contestants have been practicing since February in small groups at different times due to COVID-19 measures. The contestants will not rehearse with each other until the dress rehearsal during the week before the pageant. Because of this, instead of naming one Miss Congeniality, there will be three different Miss Congeniality winners — one from each group.
“For the pageant, we have been told we can have a certain amount of girls without a mask on the stage at a time,” Miss LSU Executive Director Leah McPhearson said. “We will interchange girls off the stage, and as soon as they exit stage a mask will be waiting for them in the wings.”
In order to follow COVID-19 protocols, anyone present at the pageant must complete the daily symptom tracker, have their temperature taken and sanitize their hands. In order to limit the number of people backstage, the Delta Zeta Miss LSU Committee has asked the contestants to come to the pageant with hair and makeup ready, so there are as few people as possible.
“It is two weeks away from the pageant and we are still making changes,” McPhearson said. “The committee is taking everything with grace despite the uncertainty.”
The contestants will not be escorted during the evening gown portion of the pageant like they usually would due to COVID-19 mitigation efforts. During intermission, instead of having performers, Delta Zeta will play their philanthropy video explaining where their money is going to.
Once the pageant is over on Sunday, each contestant will have a CrowdChange page to raise money. In order to choose the 2021 Miss LSU winner, there will be virtual voting. On the Miss LSU Facebook page, each contestant’s CrowdChange page will be posted. One dollar in their personal CrowdChange is one vote. Moreover, whichever contestant raises the most money will be named 2021 Miss LSU.
