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Holly Griswold will compete in the Miss Vermont Teen USA pageant...

Saturday, August 4
Entering a beauty pageant is the last thing Holly Griswold imagined doing. Growing up on a small family farm in Halifax, Griswold wasn't "afraid to get her hands dirty."

"I'm definitely a tomboy," she said. "My mom used to have to yell at me to put on a dress."

This November, Holly will take her first, well-practiced steps onto the pageant stage in an effort to represent the state as Miss Vermont Teen USA to the surprise of everyone ... except her mother.

"I'm very proud of her. This is something she's doing out of her normal realm. She's really a farm girl," Crystal Griswold said. "She's very down to earth. She's very naturally beautiful but she's never really thought of herself in that way."

Holly, 16, who will be a junior at Twin Valley High School in Wilmington this fall, had never thought of competing in beauty pageants until she got a letter in the mail calling for contestants.

"I said, 'What the heck, it's worth a try,'" Holly said.