Alva Review-Courier -

The Cherokee Strip Museum is scheduled to receive a new exhibit from the Nancy Denner McGowen family, telling of Nancy Denner's (as she was then) journey from small town Alva to second runner up in the 1957 Miss America Pageant.

Denner is the daughter of the late Joe and Mary Denner, owners of the Golden Krust Bakery in earlier days of Alva.

The Alva Chamber of Commerce needed a participant to send to the Miss Oklahoma Pageant and Denner was selected to go. She represented Alva in the competition where she won the title, the crown and the right to go on to the Miss America competition, held a few short week later in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Immediate preparations were made and Denner and her chaperone were on their way to Atlantic City. While in New York she appeared with Micky Mantle, Joe Di Maggio and Pat Boone on the Ed Sullivan Show.

Denner was wishing she could at least be picked as one of the top ten finalists. Not only did she make the top ten, she became the second runner up in the final competition of the 1957 Miss America Pageant.

The McGowans hired two consultants from the Oklahoma Historical Society to develop the exhibit. These consultants met with workers from Alva to begin preparing the room for the new Nancy Denner exhibit.

This is an exciting new addition and we are grateful for the contributions the McGowan family is making to our museum. It is planned to be completed by Oct. 15.