Hey, guys! For this post I wanted to share with you my night at the Srta. Panama California 2014 Gala I went to a few days ago. I went to support and cheer on my friend, Karla Hernandez, who was one of the contestants participating. The Gala took place at the Monte Cristo Banquet Hall in Los Angeles this past weekend and was hosted by the Viva Panama Organization, Inc. headquartered here in Los Angeles. The Gala also commemorated the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Panama Canal.
Before the Gala started, I went behind the scenes and took a few pictures of the contestants getting ready, as well as (obviously) of my friend who was participating.
The night started off with a special dance and song number commemorating the opening of the Panama Canal (didn’t get a pic!), then the Masters of Ceremony took over.
The opening of the gala was the four contestants (originally there were 5 contestants, but one of them didn’t continue in the competition) dancing to a song sung by one of the girls. After that, they introduced themselves. My friend Karla represented Downey, CA and was born in David, Chiriquí, Panama.
The judges of the event were later introduced with one of them being Justine Pasek, the only Panamanian Miss Universe to date (2002). The other judges were Amira Aranda (esthetician, cosmetologist and beauty school owner), Estela Orozco (professional makeup artist) and Erick Solares (attorney and former president, executive director and legal advisor of various non-profit organizations).
After a few videos about the history of the opening of the Panama Canal, came the swimsuit portion of the competition.
After the swimsuit portion, there was a special performance (actually a few beautiful numbers) by the Ballet Folklorico Viva Panama. Their Panamanian costumes are amazing, I absolutely loved them! I had never been immersed in so much Panamanian pride! There isn’t a big Panamanian community in LA and I actually don’t know any other Panamanians besides my friend Karla and her family so it was nice to be immersed in a different ambience than what I am usually used to; living in LA, that would mostly be Mexican, Guatemalan and Salvadorian. After these performances and the videos of Panama that were showcased during the Gala, I realized I must visit Panama soon!
After the beautiful dances by the Ballet Folklorico Viva Panama, came some special awards with one of them being for Justine Pasek. She was given the Special Humanitarian Award by the Viva Panama Organization.
Finally, came the evening gown competition. I snapped a couple of pictures of my friend right before she made her way down to the stage. She looked stunning!!!! We were all very nervous by now because the competition was coming to an end and we were eager to know who would win!
Then came the final stage of the competition: the questions. Each contestant answered the question they were asked by a respective judge.
While the judges decided who would be the winner, the girls were treated to a little serenade by singer of Panamanian descent, Julio Hanson.
The time had now come to know who the big winner would be! The winners were as follows:
Here are a few more pictures I took while everyone was celebrating her win!!!!
We also took a couple of group pictures!
After everyone congratulated her, it was party time!!!! The banquet hall turned into a club and everyone started dancing to salsa music! And of course, we sneaked in more pictures with the winner in between the dancing!
I had an amazing time that night with friends I hadn’t seen in a while which reminded me we need to do this more often! We sometimes get so caught up in life that we forget these are the special moments that mean the most. Congrats, Karla!! I’m super proud of you! Love you and your family! Thank you for letting me be a part of this celebration.
Love the blog & pics! It feels like I was there too! <3