» 2005 A Pageant Year In Review

January

The year started with a Tsunami as relief efforts for the far away victims welcomed were the talk of January. Miss Seminole County Teen USA Savannah Stephens donated her New Years Eve to collect over $17,000.00 at The Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Tampa. Also onstage at Miss Polk County USA 2006 saw a preview of the upcoming Miss USA as Miss North Carolina USA Chelsea Cooley and Miss Florida USA Melissa Witek both were special guests and spoke to the audience.

February

Pre taping for Miss Florida USA starts as Hollywood plays host to both state pageants for the second year in a row. This is the earliest start ever as nine shooting days will take place before the July television special. Melissa Witek, Miss Florida USA 2005 handles the reporting duties exceptionally during her tour of duty.

March

Melissa Witek, Miss Florida USA 2005 heads to Baltimore for the national championship of pageantry Miss USA. Before she leaves friends, family, sponsors, contestants and preliminary directors say goodbye at a “Going Away to Miss USA” party in Hollywood. This month both Cristin Duren (Miss Emerald Coast USA) and Jennifer Wooten (Miss Winter Park Teen USA) win their titles as a first step toward later success.

April

The highlight of April was the 4^th place finish at Miss USA by Melissa Witek. Ms. Witek truly shined in the national spotlight and brought back the best finish by Florida since 1986. The entire pageant it was clear that the support of our state for our titleholder was phenomenal. The after party was certainly a time of celebration for all of the hard work it took by our Ms. Witek and support team. A few weeks later it was Miss Florida USA Seminar Day and pretape weekend as pageantry never takes a break in The Sunshine State!

May
Miss Universe is announced in Thailand completing the 2005 season with Canada taking the title. In Florida USA news the 5^th annual “Too Hot For Fashion” takes place on Hollywood Beach with proceeds going to The Broward Homeless Outreach Center. Over $18,000 is raised for this worthy cause.

JUNE

In what would be a precursor for the remainder of the year our Miss Florida USA pretape sessions were severely effected by Hurricane Arlene. This was the first of five hurricanes to affect our state. Our first brush with Mother Nature sent the delegates inside The Westin Diplomat Resort for the biggest weekend of taping for the upcoming television special.

JULY

It’s Cristin Duren’s name that is read as Miss Florida USA 2006 in a week-long pageant extravaganza in Hollywood. Ms. Duren beat out forty-seven contestants in the first state Miss USA pageant where the delegates had to qualify to compete. The state competition was threatened by Hurricane Dennis as preliminary night saw 70 mile per hour gusts at The Westin Diplomat.

AUGUST

After two weeks in Baton Rouge our Miss Florida Teen USA Victoria Ratliff competes at Miss Teen USA. In the nationally televised final on NBC Miss Ohio Teen USA Allie LaForce wins the title. Less then two weeks later Hurricane Katrina reeks havoc on The Gulf Coast changing the region for years to come.

SEPTEMBER

Hurricane Katrina’s visit to South Florida postpones The Miss Florida Teen USA Pretape & Seminar Weekend to September as three days of fun and pageantry await the delegates. The City of Hollywood put it’s best foot forward in spite of the destroyed surroundings. The entire month the focus is on raising funds for The Gulf Coast Restoration. The South Miami Simon Mall Properties hosted our delegates as collectively they collect $14,000.00 in three weekends. Also a special Hollywood evening on the Broadwalk collected $1,300.00 with over twenty titleholders assisting.

OCTOBER

Jennifer Wooten, representing Winter Park, captures the approval of the judges and is selected Miss Florida Teen USA over forty-three worthy contestants on Hollywood Beach. Victoria Ratliff handles the duties of reigning titleholder and hosts the one hour television special with Kristen Bell and Luis Aguirre. A few weeks later Hurricane Wilma wipes out the teen host hotel and other parts of South Florida. A hurricane relief telethon featuring several titleholders is postponed until February due to local damage.

NOVEMBER

With Broward County still in shambles the Ft. Lauderdale suburb city of Oakland Park host the first preliminary pageant of the new season. Meanwhile outside the theater flood waters of 3 feet greet the contestants after a tropical downpour floods the city. Three new titleholders were crowned on the dry stage. Our Miss Florida USA Cristin Duren is seen on national television twice this month. Ms. Duren reads the pre race invocation at The NASCAR Championships on NBC at The Homestead Motor Speedway. A few days later she is also seen on a live interview on the CNBC cable Network. She is also featured in a front-page article in The New York Times. It’s official Miss USA is heading back to Baltimore while Miss America is packing up and heading to Las Vegas.

DECEMBER

After five hurricanes and a tsunami, the year ends peacefully with several holiday parades throughout the state. The biggest being Winterfest weekend here in Ft. Lauderdale as both Miss Wooten and Miss Duren were featured stars in the largest single day event in our state. Over four million people viewed our states pageant royalty live and many more saw the televised special throughout Florida, The Caribbean and Boston. What a great way to wave goodbye to an eventful year.

» Catching Up with Miss Florida USA

The Toys for Tots of Bay County Holiday Drive

Last weekend saw our Miss Florida USA Cristin Duren participating in the annual Toys for Kids Foundation n Bay County at three of the Panama City Beach Super Wal-Marts. Local Island 106 FM radio personalities Ryan (female), Dan and DeLow along with Panama City Channel 13 News reporter Robby Thomas and Ms. Duren helped collect over $30,000 in cash and gifts in addition to over 125 bikes. All of the proceeds and gift were going toward the children of Bay County for the Holiday Season. This is extra special this year because Bay County has become home to many displaced victims of Hurricane Katrina. Ms. Duren says her favorite picture was the one of “Ryan and I trying to remember how to ride a bike! We had a blast!”

» Kudos & Did You Knows:

- Kudos to Miss Florida Teen USA Alumni (1^st ru ’02) Arielle Kebbel on her role in American Pie Band Camp, the fourth in the American Pie Series and now out on DVD. Ms. Kebbel plays the character Elyse in this movie and has also had

featured appearances in "Soul Plane" and "Be Cool". It’s so much fun watching someone achieving their dreams. Congratulations Arielle, we are very proud!

Ms. Kebbel in character at American Pie Band Camp

- Kudos to Miss Jacksonville USA 2006 Sherri Leaf and sister queen Miss Jacksonville Teen USA 2006 Chelsea Rhoden who participated in a holiday fashion show with donations made to B.E.A.M. a non-profit organization that helps people who are having finical difficulties. All ticket sales went towards donations and toys for the B.E.A.M children in need. The event was Dec. 14th at the Atlantic Theater and Comedy Club in Atlantic Beach Florida. The ladies had great time modeling fashions from local designer Cathy Juhaz who designed Miss Leaf’s evening gown for Miss Florida USA. Toys were also brought in for toys for tots! Great job Sherri and Chelsea!

- Did You Know that our social butterfly and Miss Florida USA 2004 Kristen Berset was hanging out with Miss USA and Miss Teen USA and The Best Buddies Bash on Star Island bordering Miami Beach this past December 10^th. Not only did Ms. Berset make some new friends she also got to enjoy a concert by En Vogue. Happy New Year Kristen!

» Pageant News Wanted!

Are you a titleholder or at large delegate who is making appearances or doing good things in the community? We would love to tell all of the Miss Florida USA Family your story. Send pictures and updates to telair@aol.com as we feature everything Miss Florida USA on Friday’s at Faces & Places.

» Alumni News Wanted!

If you know of any Miss Florida USA alumni in the news please drop us an email to feature them in future articles. Email all info to info@missfloridausa.com! Until next week here to good pageantry!

PICTURE OF THE WEEK!

We end the year with four special pictures – the first Melissa Witek’s final walk as Miss Florida USA 2005; the second being Cristin Duren’s crowning moment as Miss Florida USA 2006; The third being Victoria Ratliff’s final walk as Miss Florida Teen USA 2005 and Jennifer Wooten’s moment as she is announced as Miss Florida Teen USA 2006. These were truly the highlights of our state this year. From all of our picture of the week committee here’s to a great new year!