Welcome home party set for Mariah Cook

 Tickets for the event, which will be 5:30-7:30 p.m., are available at Farm Bureau Insurance agent Amy Halverson at 315 Main Street or the Chadron Record at 248 West Second Street. Prices are $15 for adults, $20 per couple, and $9 for children age 12 and under.

The event will feature a silent auction and help Cook raise funds for the expenses of the upcoming year. She will entertain the crowd at the Sandoz Center with a piano performance and is expected to sign autographs. Organizers expect other pageant titleholders to be in attendance.

Cook won the Miss Nebraska title June 9 during the pageant in North Platte and will compete for the Miss America crown in January 2013.

The new Miss Nebraska is a graduate of Ponderosa High School at Parker, Colo., and has been studying toward a Bachelor of Science in Education degree with a field endorsement in social science.