Atlantic City’s famed Miss’d America competition has been absent for a number of years, but the recent efforts to revamp the LGBT scene in the city will include the resurrection of the legendary drag pageant.
The first Miss’d America was crowned in 1993 in an event conceived of and organized by John Schultz and Gary Hill as a benefit fundraiser for the South Jersey AIDS Alliance. The drag-queen contest was meant to parody the mainstream Miss America contest — held the night before — especially for those pageant workers, hair and makeup artists and others who “missed” the pageant.
Miss’d America ran for 14 successful years but ended in 2005 after the Miss America pageant left Atlantic City to set up shop in Las Vegas, its present home.
Rich Helfant, president of the newly formed Greater Atlantic City GLBT Alliance, said the organization was brainstorming ideas for its first large-scale event and sought permission from Schultz and Hill to relaunch the pageant.
“We were tossing ideas around about a major gala fundraiser and membership drive and the idea just came to me that why don’t we bring back Miss’d America,” Helfant said. “We wanted to let the public known that the GLBT Alliance had formed and to do it in a big way, so we thought that this would be a good match.”
The pageant, last held in 2005, was previously staged at the now-defunct Studio 6, which had a seating capacity of 650. Next month’s event, at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 31, will get underway at Boardwalk Hall, a 2,400-seat venue that housed the Miss America competition for nearly 80 years.
Miss’d America will bring together eight drag queens from the Atlantic City, Philadelphia and New York regions to compete in evening wear and talent competitions, with a swimwear segment that Helfant noted won’t be judged, but rather will just be for laughs. Many former Miss’d America winners will also attend.
The show is being written and directed by Philly’s own “Sandy Beach,” Robert Hitchen and hosted by Carson Kressley, cast member of “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.”
The title sponsor of the contest is Grey Goose Vodka, with other sponsors including Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc., Harrah’s Entertainment, the Schultz-Hill Foundation and the Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority.
“From our point of view at the Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority, we’re always looking for new, special events that will drive people here during the off-season,” said ACCVA executive director Jeff Vasser. “And it certainly speaks to a very important market that we’re trying, as a destination, to attract and that’s the GLBT market. This is a new time for Atlantic City and we want to be encouraging that and doing everything that we can to show what the new Atlantic City is about and that we’re certainly an open, welcoming destination.”
Harrah’s hosted its first “Out in A.C.” weekend this fall, and Helfant said the company is one of many in the city committed to reaching out to LGBT tourists.
“The fact is that people here recognize the gay traveler and how important that niche of the traveling market is. Atlantic City’s competition has never been more severe than it is right now and it needs to be in the forefront in every aspect, including the GLBT market, because that may be a small part of the traveling public, but it’s very significant dollar-wise. Harrah’s was happy to jump on board with this and Trump was the same way, so we now have seven casinos staking a claim in this and saying that this market is important to people who live here, work here and visit here.”
Both Harrah’s and Trump are offering special package prices for the weekend, and will be hosting pre- and post-pageant parties.
Miss’d America is not just expected to be a boon for Atlantic City’s LGBT tourism efforts, but also for the nonprofits selected as beneficiaries. Along with the GLBT Alliance, other organizations set to split the funds generated are the William Way LGBT Community Center, Broadway Cares-Equity Fight AIDS, South Jersey AIDS Alliance and the Schultz-Hill Foundation, which will use the funds to establish a scholarship for an Atlantic City-area LGBT student.
Tickets are available at Boardwalk Hall, at all Ticketmaster locations and through www.Ticketmaster.com.
For more information about the Greater Atlantic City GLBT Alliance, visit the group’s Facebook page.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].