The 1947 Miss Emery County Centennial queen’s dress is on display at the Pioneer Museum in Castle Dale. The museum is located upstairs at the Castle Dale city hall and is open each weekday.
While attending Brigham Young University in Provo, Juanita Snow decided to participate in the Miss Emery County Pageant. She designed her dress that was sewn together by a family friend Mazie Peacock. The dress was made of beautiful ivory satin; it had short puffed sleeves and had sequin designs around the bottom consisting of covered wagons, beehives, and flowers. There were more than 3,000 sequins individually sewn onto the dress by Juanita, her mother and two sisters Donna and Lucille.
For the talent portion of the pageant, Juanita played the piano and delighted the audience with the song Claire de Lune.
After winning the pageant, Juanita’s father Russell Snow made her a crown. He carefully shaped from wire, the shape of a crown. He then wrapped it tightly with yarn. After that he soaked it in salt water for a time, until it crystallized into a beautiful crown fit for a queen.
Now, 60 years later, Juanita still has her beautiful dress and crown. Juanita has fond memories of attending the Miss Utah Pageant in Salt Lake City, where she finished in the top 15. Her grandfather G. F. Hickman lived in Salt Lake at the time and attended the pageant with her.
In 1950, Juanita married the love of her life Elwin Rasmussen; they resided in East Carbon for 50 years and were blessed with seven beautiful children. The Rasmussens relocated back to Castle Dale, where they purchased the Dr. Truman home.
Pageant dress on display at the Pioneer Museum in Castle Dale
"The pageant dress worn by Juanita Snow is on display at the pioneer museum."