1957 Miss Michigan Shares Journal Highlights From Mackinac Bridge Opening Events
By Karen Gould

At left: Miss Michigan 1957, Valerie Strong Agresta, and Larry Rubin, first executive secretary of the Mackinac Bridge, reunite Thursday, July 26, 2007. They first met June 28, 1958, when the bridge opening was celebrated.

Valerie Strong Agresta rode in the first car that crossed the Mackinac Bridge when it opened to vehicle traffic November 1, 1957. She was Miss Michigan.

"What better place to be?" she asked rhetorically of the event that took place 50 years ago. "I was to be in the first car going over this magnificent bridge, and all the county queens were behind me."

To actually see "this crowning achievement, the technology, and Dr. Steinman with his vision to foresee it could be done" was an experience she will never forget. She even remembers the early controversy over whether the bridge would even be built.

Mrs. Agresta also had a vision of the future, and kept a journal of her experiences that included a list of the names of all the people she met at the bridge opening. Actually, she kept a journal of her year's reign as Miss Michigan.

Shaded from the sun, sitting under the white tent in Bridge View Park following the bridge token dedication to Dr. Steinman Thursday, July 26, she produces her journal, carefully organized with the events she attended that opening day.

As part of the celebration, in a journal entry dated June 26, 1957, she was driven to Cheboygan and was made "Princess of the Chicamaugra Tribe."

"They gave me a beautiful beaded headdress," she remembers.

She is now a Palm Harbor, Florida, resident, and the headdress was long lost in one of her moves. She still has many mementos from her reign, including her green and gold Miss Michigan sash, which she had with her last weekend.

While Miss Michigan, she was on the Court of Honor to Miss America, Marilyn Van Derbur of Colorado. After completing a year as the state queen, Mrs. Agresta began work on her doctorate and has taught piano for the last 21 years.

Returning from a research trip to Germany, she found a message on her answering machine, telling her about the Mackinac Bridge celebration. With hardly time to unpack, she made plane reservations for Michigan and arrived at the Straits Tuesday, July 24.

"Yesterday, as I approached the bridge, it was deja vu," she said. "Oh, I remember it so well."

She also remembers being part of a fashion show where furs were modeled at Fort Michilimackinac. It's in her journal.

She turns the pages of her journal and comes to the page containing a list of names, including Dr. Steinman and Larry Rubin. Today, she is on a mission to find some of the people she had met so many years ago. She knows Mr. Rubin is at the other end of the tent, and heads in his direction. With greetings and hugs, the reunion bridges 50 years.

Attending the bridge opening and being a part of the ceremony were important to her, she said.

Looking back, "This was probably the crowning achievement of my year as Miss Michigan," she said. "It just held so much meaning for me."