Queen of the Big Top Finalists Collect Awards. Queen of the Big Top Lynette Stites of Festus received airline tickets to California for herself and a chaperone from Walter T. Smith, vice president of Anheuser-Busch, as other finalists in the Queen of the Big Top contest look on. They are (from the left) Pat Shebik, Marilyn Stalcup, Marcia Hope Cole and June Enos, who received watches. In the foreground is luggage and clothing given to the queen, who will ride a St. Louis float in the Tournament of Roses parade New Year's Day.
For the thousands of people who were willing to sit for up to a half-an-hour in an enormous traffic jam outside the Checkerdome, where the rally was staged, there was at least the prospect of a great experience.