Despite the snow last week, twirlers across the state of Colorado managed to travel to Ft. Collins the weekend before it hit to compete in the 7th annual National Baton Twirling Association's "Miss Fall Festival" and Open Twirling Competition.

Haley Lena, 10, competed in Intermediate 101-12 Modeling, Interview, X-Strut & Solo to earn 1st place and the title of 2009 Miss Fall Festival.

During the course of the day, starting with modeling, the contestants scores for each event are tabulated to get a total score for each division level and age division.

Twirlers could also opt to enter just the "open" events (modeling, Basic & Military Strut, Solo, 2-Baton, Show Twirl, and ribbon)

A pleasant surprise for the day were the 2 teams from Ft. Collins that competed at the competition for the 1st time. The Rocky Mountain Golden Girls, coached by Yvonne Pederson of Ft. Collins put on quite the show! A very organized, disciplined group of young ladies entertained the gym full of parents and twirlers to show that hard work pays off!

Awards for Sportswear were also presented in all age divisions as well as many amazing donated raffle baskets donated by friends and family Ann's Allstars.

A great day of twirling was had by all Thanks to Ann Durkin & Linda Schick, & all the parent/ family volunteers need to host this non profit competition.

There are 5 twirling competitions, 1 clinic and 1 camp left in the 2009 2010 Twirling Year in Colorado. Regional & Nationals are held every summer in June & July.

If you would like to know more about the sport of Baton Twirling and how it can benefit your child, please email: Amtwirls@mac.com for more info,