Mrs. Utah Petite 2024 Eva Salcedo wore a stunning costume inspired by Arches National Park for the pageant, winning best costume in her division. Salcedo, a soldier in the Army Reserve, visited Arches after a 9-month deployment and found it to be a place of healing and reconnection.
“I had the most unbelievable experience and it was an opportunity to reconnect with myself after being gone for nearly a year at that point,” Salcedo said in a conversation with the Moab Sun News. “I called it my oasis.”
The costume was designed and crafted by Kennedy Gasper in the Philippines, a specialist in pageant costumes. It took seven months to create the custom-made, hand-beaded design, with Salcedo providing measurements and inspiration photos of sunsets. The result was a lightweight but intricate costume that required assistance to put on. Salcedo expressed her satisfaction with the final product, stating that it fit perfectly and captured the beauty of Arches National Park.
[Kennedy Gasper]
