These two gals are all gussied up for the Cairo (pronounced by locals as “we don’t care-o”), Illinois River Days festival in 1990, but they don’t look too excited about it. Touted as “America’s most depressing city” by www.cyburbia.org, it wouldn’t be farfetched to assume these gals got the heck out of dodge before the millennium ended. More recent images from 2008 show what downtown has become.
However, if you simply travel 21 miles north to Ullin, Illinois, you can witness the beauty pageant held at their modern-day River Days, which is still going strong.
And these Little Miss Sunshines, having traded tights and tap shoes for strappy sandals, seem a lot more excited about it.
Advertisements
Great work!!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sadly a lot of towns have gone the way of Cairo. As for beauty pageants for kids, I am at best ambivalent. Nice pics though.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Probably not a good idea to be sexualizing little kids and getting them focused on beauty.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yep. That and some of the adults can get crazy.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, talking about living vicariously!
LikeLiked by 1 person
We drove through downtown Cairo (some pronounce it kay-ro) while on vacation last year. It is depressing, but you can see how beautiful it must have been.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s a great documentary photograph that first one. It definitely suggests a narrative I think. What an awfully depressed place that is.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Truth.
LikeLike
Sorry to hear about Cairo. It was a nice little town.
LikeLiked by 1 person