“We had a little problem with the DVD player,” said Deb Zale, executive director of the pageant. “We couldn’t get it to work for about 45 seconds. But we finally got that going.”

Other than that, Zale said the night was a success.

Tiffany Griffin, a Buchanan resident, was crowned Miss Capital City — the first one in about 20 years.

Her passion for her personal platform seemed to stand out the most, Zale said.

Griffin advocated for “Life After Foster Care,” a platform that helps young adults once they turn 18 and are unable to continue in the foster care system.

Griffin said she became interested in the cause upon seeing a program on TV about the struggles foster children face once they are out of the system.

She became especially passionate about it after her sister became a foster parent — one year after Griffin won her first local title in the Miss America program.

Griffin, a 2007 Saint Mary’s College graduate, has been competing in pageants since she was 16.

She’s been in eight and was the third runner-up in the 2007 Miss Michigan pageant, but experience doesn’t stop her from still getting nervous.

“It could be my 100th pageant and I would still feel the nerves a little bit and the adrenaline,” she said.

Saturday, however, Griffin was confident.

“Not confident that I would win — but feeling very at peace for how I was doing personally,” she said.

Now that the title is hers, Griffin will represent Lansing and prepare for next year’s Miss Michigan pageant.

One of her first appearances will come Friday at Lansing’s annual Silver Bells in the City parade.

“She is making a yearlong commitment in the Lansing community to trying to advance her community service and her platform,” said Ronda Liskey, an advertising, marketing and events coordinator for The Cadillac Club, 1115 S. Washington Ave., in Lansing, where the pageant was held. “She’ll be out in the community.”