Once upon a time, there lived a little girl who liked nothing better than to climb trees and play in the dirt.

Fast forward a few years and that same little girl has all grown up. Gone are the dusty blue jeans and in their place is an elegant evening gown. Completing the picture of a fairy tale princess is a sparkling crown resting on her head.

Not even Elizabeth Harris herself would have predicted the transformation that came her way. She admits that the idea of entering a beauty pageant never crossed her mind, even though she remembers attending the local Little Miss and Miss Independence contests in Belhaven as a child.

“That’s just what you did on July 4 in Belhaven,” recalled the Pungo native. “But I never thought about entering. I was a tomboy and didn’t want any part of it!”

Later, she gained a new perspective on pageants but it wasn’t easy to change her mind about them.

“I was kind of forced into it by Brandy and Melissa,” said Harris with a laugh, referring to then-directors Brandy Lee and Melissa Smith Godley. “They basically told me I was going to do it. But I didn’t start until I was a freshman in high school.”

From that first Miss Independence pageant, she was hooked. She didn’t win in 2008, and she didn’t win the next two years either, although she kept working her way up through the runner-up ranks. Finally, on her fourth attempt and in her final year of eligibility, she was crowned Miss Independence 2011.

Harris also dabbled in pageants outside her hometown area. She was named Princess of Johnston County and took home the Benson Mule Days title, as well.

She even briefly entered the race for the coveted Miss America crown; since Beaufort County doesn’t have an official Miss America local pageant, she was eligible to compete for the Miss Kinston-Lenoir title. She didn’t win, but she did become friends with the young woman who did and she traveled to Raleigh to cheer on Arlie Honeycutt as she captured the Miss North Carolina 2012 title.

Pageants gave her a leg up in life, Harris now says.

“The biggest thing I’ve gotten out of it is confidence in public speaking; you just carry that with you forever,” she pointed out. “But I’m done competing in pageants now. Life became too busy, and then I had this opportunity to direct pageants and I just really like that side of it.”

For the past four years, Harris has assumed directorship of the Miss Independence pageant and she even added a separate Young Miss title to give girls another chance at their own shot at hometown stardom. Harris oversaw the crowning of her two most recent queens during this year’s July 4 festivities.

And she’s taken on a new challenge this summer, organizing pageants held in conjunction with the inaugural North Carolina Sunflower Festival to be held Labor Day weekend in Chocowinity. She’s now busy recruiting contestants for that pageant, which features four age categories open to contestants from newborns to teenagers..

She hopes her own success in pageants will inspire others to enter.

“I don’t think you have to come from a pageant background to be successful in pageants,” Harris said. “The judges are told to look for more than just how you walk and how you look. You’ll gain confidence from it and you’ll gain new friends.”

For more information about competing in this year’s Sunflower Festival pageant, contact Harris at emharris0919@yahoo.com or pageant@ncsunflowerfestival.org, or visit the festival’s Facebook page.