Miss Florida USA Faces

A wet and rainy winter Tallahassee weekend greeted twelve fantastic contestants who brought the sunshine to this tough pageant competition! Our state’s capital was on fire this past weekend as Pageant Director Brook Francis and her numerous volunteers from Daddy’s Girl International (DGI) presented the third annual Miss Tallahassee USA and Teen USA Pageants.

The R.A. Gray Auditorium proved to be a perfect venue as the delegates began the day with rehearsals to prepare for the evenings big event. Miss Florida Teen USA 2006 Jennifer Wooten along with co-host Elton Gumbel of Tallahassee’s WCTV-6. After a tough morning of rehearsals it was time for the delegates personality interview session as each judge had the chance to meet the ladies one-on-one after they made introductory speeches.

Mother to be Amanda waves while Samantha hugs during their special presentation onstage Saturday night.

After the delegates had the chance to spend time with reigning Miss Tallahassee USA Kimberly Anderson (who’s about to be an April bride!) and Miss Tallahassee Teen USA Alex Reynolds it was time to get the evening started. The house was rocking and the show went off perfectly. The royalty in the house included special guests Miss Florida USA 2006 Cristin Duren and Miss Florida USA 2005 Melissa Witek.

Miss Tallahassee USA with her fan club after winning the title (left)
The Francis Girls before showtime (right)

Right after intermission the special guests along with Ms. Francis introduced a lovely pictorial salute to former North Florida Pageant Directors Samantha Strickland and Amanda Broadfoot (who is expecting her first child this summer!) who headed the “Leading Ladies of North Florida” during a very successful two year run before retiring this past pageant season. These amazing women truly touched the lives of several people during their tenure as they will be missed by our Miss Florida USA family!

Up next week is a record state USA record as fourteen titles will be handed out over a six hour period this weekend. Look for Mary Lou Gravitt at Miss Pembroke Pines USA; Michael Galanes at The West Coast Super Pageant and Grant Gravitt, Jr. at The Orlando/Polk County/Lake Buena Vista Pageant in Orange County. So look for a recap of a crazy pageant Saturday right here at YOUR Faces and Places update Friday’s only at www.MissFloridaUSA.com!

- Kudos to Miss Hollywood USA 2007 Rachel Rose and Miss Hollywood Teen USA 2007 Krizia Toledo as they threw beads to thousands of spectators who lined the streets of downtown Hollywood this past Sunday to view the Fiesta Tropicale Downtown Hollywood Mardi Gras parade. The Greater Hollywood Jaycees, sponsors of the Miss Hollywood USA pageant, along with Pageant Director Jules Meyer and Co-Pageant Director Deb Gronvold, participated in the event. Rachel and Krizia greeted admiring fans beforehand and took dozens of photos with the enthusiastic participants.

- Kudos to Miss Hispanidad USA Cindy Kohn-Cybulkiewicz who traveled from the 24th to the 28th of February to participate in the Carnivals of Barranquilla, Colombia.(the second largest in the world, following Brazil) The costume Cindy used in these pictures for the "Batalla de Flores," ("Battle of the Flowers") was representative of a Cherokee Indian. From the waist up, it was representative of the United States, and from the waist down it was Colombia. Way to represent Cindy!

» 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!

Contestants for the Miss China/World Pageant pose on the Great Wall. Beijing authorities have closed down a project that allowed couples to carve sweet nothings on a "great wall of love" next to the genuine Great Wall. Those crazy Chinese! But to our hard working Picture of The Week Committee this is one sweet Picture of The Week. Enjoy.