Miss New Jerseys cross state lines to mingle in Philly
From left, Miss Delaware Ashley Swanson, Miss New Jersey Brenna Weick, Miss Pennsylvania Samantha Lambert and Miss Pennsylvania's Outstanding Teen Alysa Bainbridge at the Fourth of July parade in Philadelphia in 2016.
Posted: Sunday, August 7, 2016 6:00 pm
Philadelphia has been an extension of the Garden State the past few years, at least in the pageant world.
Miss New Jersey, who makes appearances up and down the state, has crossed state lines more than a few times in the past three years to make official stops in the City of Brotherly Love.
“Philadelphia is the city I identified with growing up,” said Lindsey Giannini, Miss New Jersey 2015.
Giannini, a Hammonton resident, said she made appearances in the Philadelphia Fourth of July parade, the Thanksgiving parade, a homecoming dance with a Pennsylvania student who beat cancer, along with a few other events.
“Hers was a rather unusual year,” Miss New Jersey Scholarship Organization’s business manager Mary Lou Cake said. “She was there a little bit more than some other girls.”
But what was an unusual year may start becoming a trend. Cake said Cara McCollum, Miss New Jersey 2013, was also involved in events in the city which included the Philadelphia Car Show.
This year’s Miss New Jersey, Brenna Weick, grew up in Mantua, about 30 minutes from Philadelphia. For Weick, Philadelphia has always been an augmentation of her home state.
“When I talk about going to the city, I talk about going to Philadelphia. When people from North Jersey talk about going to the city, they usually mean New York,” she said. “It’s interesting because we really don’t have a major city on that scale here in New Jersey.”
Miss NJ Brenna Weick traveled long pageant road to Miss America
The local connections Gianinni and Weick have to Philadelphia resemble what recent Miss Pennsylvanias have had to Pittsburgh.
In the past 10 years, all but one of the crowned Miss Pennsylvania’s has come from the Pittsburgh, Erie or Scranton areas. All cities are several hours from Philadelphia. The lone Philadelphia area representative, Miss Pennsylvania 2007 Rachel Brooks, is from Broomall in Delaware County, right next to Philadelphia County.
The Miss Pennsylvania pageant also is held in Pittsburgh. The Miss Pennsylvania Organization did not respond to requests for comment on this story.
In that last decade, the ABC and NBC Philadelphia network affiliates and the Philadelphia Inquirer have flocked to Ocean City for the Miss New Jersey pageant every June.
This year, Karen Rogers, a weekday traffic and weather anchor for the ABC affilitate and a former Miss New Jersey, hosted the pageant.
Still, that doesn’t mean Miss Pennsylvania neglects her state’s largest city. Every year, Miss Pennsylvania travels to Philadelphia for the annual Independence Day Parade. This year, Miss Pennsylvania Samantha Lambert made the five-hour trip from Pittsburgh to attend the parade, along with Weick, and the current Miss Delaware, Amanda Debus, and Miss Pennsylvania’s Outstanding Teen Alysa Bainbridge.
Weick said when she talked to Lambert at the parade, Lambert said she was going to specifically make time to get a cheesesteak.
“It was kind of interesting because all I have to do is drive 20 minutes and over the bridge to get a real Philadelphia cheesesteak,” Weick said. “For her, it’s just a lot different.”
Gianinni said she attended a couple of events with 2015 Miss Pennsylvania Ashley Schmider.
“They definitely get (to Philadelphia) more than we do,” Gianinni said.
Still, that doesn’t stop Miss New Jersey from crossing state lines throughout her reign.
“Going to the city as Miss New Jersey is awesome,” Weick said. “There were so many New Jersey residents cheering me on during the (Independence Day) parade, I was really surprised.”
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/missamerica/miss-new-jerseys-cross-state-lines-to-mingle-in-philly/article_e7391460-5b59-11e6-8d11-a3510b07aab5.html
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