Last night, 24-year-old Miss New York Nina Davuluri was crowned Miss America 2014 at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. The music swelled and the tears flowed, but the real celebration–at least for one Wiltonite in town for the event–had already been going on for two days.
You might know Erica vanderLinde Feidner as a piano teacher or business owner here in town; she is both. You may have seen her at a school event, as she has a son at Wilton High School and a daughter at Middlebrook. What you may not know is that Erica was also Miss Vermont in 1985, the same year she walked the stage in Atlantic City at the Miss America pageant.
With the pageant returning to New Jersey this month for the first time since 2004, an opportunity arose for Feidner to meet up with some old friends for a weekend of kicking back and catching up.
“Miss Texas–Johnna Fitzgerald–started a Facebook page three years ago for the sisterhood of all of us who were there in 1985,” she said. “I never went to the Las Vegas pageants, but with this one in Atlantic City, it seemed to be the right time.”
Also appealing to Feidner was the opportunity to share the experience with her 13-year-old daughter, Jamie, who joined her for the weekend. The two had a ball, snapping photos in tiaras and sashes in their room at Caesars–part of a block of rooms held for the 1985 alumni.
Looking through photos and scrapbooks before the weekend, Feidner found herself awash in fond memories of her Miss America pageant experience.
“It was competitive, but there was an undercurrent of support,” she said, adding that she made a few friends along the way. “Miss Wisconsin was also a pianist–Mary Kay Andersen–we got along really well.”
Music, specifically piano, was what drew Feidner into the pageant scene. Growing up in Vermont, she was one of four daughters, all of whom learned to play at an exceptionally young age. Her talent was remarkable early on, and she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Performance from SUNY Purchase. It was during college that she began brainstorming how to purchase her first Steinway piano.
“I had never even seen a pageant,” she recalled. “But I saw a commercial for it on TV, talking about the scholarship money awarded to the winners. I said ‘That’s it!’”
To the surprise of her family, she entered a local pageant–playing a Liszt piece for the talent portion–and advanced to the state finals. There, she was crowned Miss Vermont 1985. Feidner said that although some initially questioned her unexpected path, she found it to be a rewarding way to give back to her home state.
“It was an opportunity to bring classical music to people in Vermont who may not have been exposed to it otherwise,” she explained of the touring commitments that came with her title. Although it wasn’t always glamorous, Feidner recalled those days with the laughter of someone who truly enjoyed them. “At one appearance I played on an old spinet, on a hog farm, in the rain, next to the port-a-potties. I had been brought there in a cart drawn by oxen while I waved and smiled.”
Next it was on to the big ticket–the Miss America pageant. Still a relative newbie to the scene, Feidner had no idea how to pose, how to walk, or how to stand for photos. Luckily, though, she knew how to blow everyone away with her musical talent. When all was said and done, she did not make the finals, but she did achieve the exact goal she had set for herself by walking away with the Talent award and $3,000 to put toward her first piano.
“I looked for a long time, then I saw a 1936 Steinway,” she said. “When I found it, I knew it was the one.”
Performing and piano still her life’s path
Feidner went on to pursue a highly successful career not only in performance, but in high end piano sales in New York City as well. Today, she owns Piano Matchmaker, a company she started to provide personalized expertise to those seeking the right piano for themselves or their families. She is known for being as tireless as she is talented in finding the perfect piano match for her clients, many of whom are shocked to hear of her pageant past.
“Why does someone enter a pageant? If you have fifty contestants there will be fifty reasons,” she said. “Some have always dreamed of it, some are financing college. I think people would be less skeptical about the pageant if they knew what it could do for a person.”
In Feidner’s case, it got her to her first Steinway. In that sense, she won the biggest award of the night.