It's a routine setup for a blood drive. There are lots of people in white coats with needles at the ready. There's a table with cookies, pizza and drinks for a post-donation snack. Volunteers stand with clip boards of paperwork to fill out.

It's a typical afternoon appearance for Miss Illinois Ashley Hatfield.

For the past year, she's traveled up and down the state, making speeches, performing and giving interviews. But, mostly, she's shaken hands, posed for pictures and talked to people.

They weren't people who are famous, but folks who are thrilled to meet her and are extremely happy she was chosen to represent their state.

With a schedule that included singing the National Anthem at a Chicago Cubs game one day and speaking at the Middle School in Murphysboro another day, Hatfield has been constantly on the go during her reign.

"Life on the road is difficult," Hatfield said. "It's physically demanding in that you can be sitting for six hours and when you get where you're going, you're just absolutely exhausted."

Arriving at the blood drive about noon, tiara carefully situated, Hatfield gets out of her car and grabs her sash, which she puts on after entering the building and checking in.

Although it's a similar situation to other towns she might appear in - Peoria, Joliet or Springfield - the donors at this particular blood drive were actually a little more possessive and proud of her, because it happened to be at the First Baptist Church in her hometown of Anna.

After all, she's their Miss Illinois.

Most people in Anna have known her all of her life. They know her father, Bill, from his many years as an educator, and her mother, Belinda, from working at a local bank.

Even if they didn't know her or know of her before she won her crown, you can bet they watched every minute of the "Miss America Reality Check" series, which aired weekly before the pageant. And you can bet there was a collective groan of misery throughout Anna at about 10 minutes into the television broadcast of the pageant final when the top 15 were announced, and Hatfield's name wasn't called.

"It's so important for Miss Illinois to have the kind of personality where she can be everybody's sweetheart," Hatfield said. "Because, I can tell you, there's great diversity in the state of Illinois. Wherever you are, they're all different.

"That's why I think being from a small town is an advantage. I think in a small town you learn to be accepting of other people and their differences."

Hatfield is interviewed by the different media outlets present to cover the blood drive, she speaks eloquently about the Red Cross and the work it is doing, particularly in Union County. Whether she is talking to a reporter with a pad and paper, in front of a camera, or when she's chatting off the record, Hatfield is just as plain-spoken and comfortable as she with an old family friend.

After being in the public eye for a year, including time spent filming "Reality Check," the flash bulbs and television cameras are second nature.

"I have noticed that I have a sixth sense," Hatfield said. "I always know where a camera is, subconsciously."

With her time as Miss Illinois coming to a close, she has mixed feelings about leaving the limelight.

"I'm looking forward to my phone not ringing as much as what it has been," Hatfield said. "I never have a free moment to myself. Once you live like this for a year, it'll be interesting to walk in somewhere and not be noticed. Once the crown comes off, there's not a lot of hype."

On the other hand, when asked if part of her is of glad she didn't become Miss America, Hatfield emphatically answered "No."

"If I could go back and do it all over again, I'd still want to win," she said. "I think I could do the job."

At the blood drive, Hatfield sits and chats with Mat Page, who is having a post-donation cookie. When she casually mentions her time as Miss Illinois coming to an end, Page exclaims, "We're not ready for you to go."

"I think it's the greatest thing that has ever happened, without a doubt," Page said about Hatfield's reign as Miss Illinois. "What better one could we have had? She's just as pretty on the inside as the outside. It's gone too fast for all of us."

Looking to the future, Hatfield will still have commitments as a former Miss Illinois throughout the summer. She's looking at a number of jobs and will focus on developing her singing career.

And as she puts on her tiara and sash one last time this evening, one thing Ashley Hatfield can be completely confident in: No matter what she does next or where she goes, in this part of the state, she'll always be our Miss Illinois.

brent.stewart@thesouthern.com / 351-5074