Being crowned Mrs. Longmont is not like anything Michelle Deines has ever done before.
A mother homeschooling her two children, Deines works part time as a head trainer at Freedy’s Frozen Custard and Steakburgers and considers herself more of an outdoorsy type. She had heard of the competition because her own mom competed in the beauty competition honoring married women throughout the U.S. when she was a kid.
“(My mom) did it and she remembers it being a lot of fun, and she got to do some cool stuff for the community,” Deines said. “And I was like, that sounds great. That sounds like something I want to do because I just want to make a difference and I want to serve.”
That service is the core part of Deines’ platform as Mrs. Longmont.
“I feel led to have a part in this for some reason and I want the glory all to go to God really,” Deines said. “I don’t want it to be about me. It’s hard because it is a very me-centered thing, but I want to bring light to these other things.”
Deines participates in a variety of service projects, including her memory bear project where she uses the clothing of someone’s loved one to create a teddy bear. She’ll also be fundraising on Aug. 29 for Children With Hair Loss, where she has donated her hair for the last seven years, at Freddy’s.
Deines said she is competing as a way to share her story with people. She has battled a slew of health issues, including anxiety, major depression, fibromyalgia and autoimmune disease, and she hopes that sharing those struggles might help others.
“Even if you have had health issues like I’ve been battling for my life, that's not the end of the road,” Deines said. “That good things can still happen and just not to give up and keep trying and things will work out.”
Deines will compete this spring in the Mrs. Colorado pageant and, if she wins the title, will represent the state at the Mrs. America Pageant in Las Vegas in 2023.
“Goal number one is to win the crown, right?” she said. “What you wanna do is win the pageant. So I’ll be competing with different ladies and against my mom — that’ll be fun.”
The competition is 50% interview-based, 25% swimsuit and 25% evening wear. Deines said she’s been doing a lot of research to prepare, along with a recent photoshoot in downtown Longmont.
She’ll be attending several community events in the coming weeks, including Unity in Community on Aug. 26 and the Sept. 10 Art Walk with District 303 Art of Hair.
She added that her sponsors, which include local businesses like Clancey Chiropractor, Elite V Twin, her employer, Northside Towing, ShallMade and Zach’s Transmission and 4x4, make all of this possible for her.
“I’ve got a lot of people supporting me and this is a big part of that,” she said.
Deines added that she hopes to be a positive role model for girls, including her own daughter.
“I want her to be modest and I want her to feel pretty in anything that she does,” she said. “I want her to feel that she can do whatever she wants to in life.”
