There's a new face riding in the front position on the American Fork float in parades this season. Liesl Wright is now Miss American Fork after Jennifer Steggell got married early this year. Wright had been her first attendant.

"I have had mock interview sessions," she said. "I have had to get shoes ordered and dresses made. The most difficult part is preparing myself mentally. That whole week we are on our best behavior, representing the city and competing against 49 other girls. They will be friends, yet we are competing with each other. Getting to know some of the girls already has been a lot of fun."

"We are there the entire week," she said. "We have no contact with our parents, except on rare occasions." Contestants are organized in groups of four contestants, who are assigned to a hostess. The contestants drew numbers for the competition; Liesl's is 2 out of 50, which gives her an early appearance in many of the events.

"That puts me first in line for a lot of things," she said. "We do interviews starting at 7 a.m. That might be good because I am a morning person."

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday the contestants do preliminary events, including talent, swim suit and evening gowns. Friday, they do rehearsals and relax before the Saturday final events.

For her talent Wright will perform Latin and ballroom dance routines.

That is one of her passions, as she is on the ballroom dance tour team at UVU.

"We just got back from a tour to England," she said. "We went for two weeks. It was a blast. I loved it."

From the beginning to the end, she enjoyed herself.

"It was my first time on an airplane. It was quite an experience," she said. "Counting our layover, it took 16 hours to get there."

There were teams from other countries, including Germany, China and England.

"It was a lot of fun, but it was a little scary, too," she said. "Even though I was with my team, we were on our own. We kind of stayed together. There were 24 of us.

"We placed rather well against these teams," she said. The group did two medleys. One was standards like waltz and tango. The other was Latin. Then the partners competed as pairs.

"We placed 199th and 247th," she said. That was out of about 700 couples. "It was incredible."

Not everything was perfect, however.

"One [dance] we completely biffed; we fell down and started laughing," she said. "It wasn't about the winning. It was about having fun and learning."

The first week team members were in the competition; the second week they played and toured.

"I even had my birthday over there," Wright said. "I roamed London and walked around for a few hours, sightseeing. I missed my family, though. I wished they were there."

She is the oldest of five daughters of Kevin and Peggy Wright of American Fork.

She said her younger sisters tease her about her new position as Miss American Fork.

"They remind me about 'Miss Congeniality,' the movie," she said. "They really support me, though. They come to the parades."

Wright herself said she has changed her view about pageants and being in the royalty.

"It has been quite a different experience, one that I didn't imagine," she said. "I always thoughts pageants were stereotypical things. It turned out to be quite different. It has been a really good experience. I have liked being an example for lots of people. It has helped me set a higher standard for myself."