Mackenzie Bart

She will compete for Miss America

By Eric Freehling

Eagle Focus Editor

MANSFIELD, Ohio — A former Miss Moraine State Outstanding Teen/America was crowned Miss Ohio Saturday night.

Mackenzie Bart, 22, of Columbus, is a senior at Ohio State University who hopes to become a meteorologist.

Competing as Miss Montgomery County, in her second attempt to become Miss Ohio, Bart, a ventriloquist, sang “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” from “Mary Poppins” with her puppet Roxy in the competition at the Renaissance Theatre in Mansfield.

Bart vied with 24 other contestants.

She is no stranger to crowns and competitions.

Bart, the daughter of Randy and Janice Bart of Brockway, won the East Brady 2006 Miss Riverfest Outstanding Teen America as a 14-year-old.

In 2009, Bart was named Miss Moraine State Outstanding Teen/America in a pageant held at the Succop Theater at Butler County Community College.

Bart will compete with other contestants for the title of Miss America Sept. 14 in Atlantic City, N.J.

The event will be televised live beginning at 9 p.m. on ABC.

Bart will take part in three nights of preliminary competitions Sept. 9 through 11 at Boardwalk Hall.

At a news conference following her win Saturday, Bart laughed when asked where her puppet Roxy will sit when she travels the state in the coming year.

“In the front seat and she’s going to be seat beltbuckled in, tied down, everything, with a crown on her head,” Bart said.