Miss America 2017: The 52 contestants wave hello to Atlantic City
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on August 30, 2016 at 5:28 PM, updated August 30, 2016 at 6:20 PM
Aspiring doctors, clinical psychologists, nurses and business owners stepped to the microphone as the sun beat down on the boardwalk Tuesday to announce their intentions to put an end to bullying, generate goodwill in the "cybersphere" and help people struggling with eating disorders.
They wouldn't mind, of course, if they won a sash and crown in the process.
All will have their chance next week in Atlantic City, as preliminary competition — baton-twirling, tap-dancing, swimsuit strutting and all — starts at the 2017 Miss America pageant.
In a traditional arrival ceremony at Kennedy Plaza outside Boardwalk Hall, all 52 Miss America contestants introduced themselves before signing their state — or Puerto Rico, or the District of Columbia — on a map nearby.
Flowing pants and jumpsuits ruled the shoreside runway, supplanting dresses on Miss America hopefuls including Miss Texas, Miss Miss Vermont and Miss Missouri, Erin O'Flaherty, the first openly gay contestant in what has been nearly a century of pageant history.
O'Flaherty, 23, who grew up in South Carolina and owns a women's boutique in Missouri, was announced as one of the finalists for a Miss America "Women in Business" scholarship.
Brenna Weick, Miss New Jersey, a graduate of High Point University in North Carolina, is a Mantua local but showed off the influence of her college years during her intro.
"I am thrilled to welcome y'all to New Jersey, especially the Miss America class of 2017," she said, wearing a sleeveless royal purple dress with a fringe bottom.
On Monday, contestants will sit for judges to begin the private interview portion of the competition. When preliminaries start on Tuesday night at Boardwalk Hall, Weick, Miss New Jersey, who's been working out daily for months with a trainer, will tackle the swimsuit and evening gown competition.
The event that would become the Miss America pageant started on the same boardwalk in 1921 as a way to extend the summer tourist season into September.
Information on tickets for preliminary competition, the pageant final, shoe parade and more in Atlantic City. Also: how to see contestants for free.
Though the state never followed up on a 2013 study that projected upwards of $30 million in economic benefit from the pageant, Miss America's future in Atlantic City is now guaranteed through the 2019 pageant.
In February, the state Casino Reinvestment Development Authority announced a three-year contract with the Atlantic City-based Miss America Organization providing $12.5 million in subsidies to the pageant, which returned to New Jersey from Las Vegas in 2013 to the tune of $7.3 million from New Jersey.
At the ceremony, Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno repeated a familiar storyline about how she believes the return of the pageant brought hope to the Shore after Hurricane Sandy.
The seven-year detour from Atlantic City is what Miss America CEO Sam Haskell on Tuesday called "our little vacation in Las Vegas," one he said organizers don't talk about anymore, ostensibly due to flagging TV ratings during a period that saw the pageant both booted off network TV and framed as a reality show. Miss America is now under contract with ABC to air on the network through the September 2018 pageant.
For Brenna Weick, 'runner-up' became a way of life, until she won
After all the contestants said their hellos, chock full of college credentials and career goals, Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian cheekily introduced himself as a graduate of Upsala College in East Orange. Despite having previously stated that the pageant isn't worth $12 million, Guardian teased a week of pageant events including the Show Us Your Shoes Parade, Miss America's annual procession of pageant queens atop convertible cars, which is due to return on Sept. 10.
"Look at the fabulous shoes they have on today," he said, gesturing towards the contestants.
Betty Cantrell, 21, the reigning Miss America — who won as Miss Georgia thanks, in part, to her opera routine — delivered a high-powered rendition of the national anthem. After she hands over the title at the televised pageant on Sept. 11, she'll be heading to Nashville to pursue a career in country music.
"Being yourself is the only way you'll ever stand out," Cantrell advised contestants, sporting the short hairstyle she adopted shortly after winning the crown.
http://www.nj.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2016/08/miss_america_2017_arrival_ceremony_atlantic_city.html
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