Miss Florida USA Faces

BILLINGS, Mont. -- When Katie Blair, the newly crowned Miss Teen USA, flew to New York City Wednesday, her only clothes were the ones she had from two weeks of pageant competition in Palm Springs, Calif. But during the year of her reign, clothes should not be an issue for the 18-year-old Billings teen.

Her shoe budget: $3,000. Her new address: Trump Place. Her new roommates: Miss USA and Miss Universe, who hails from Puerto Rico. "It's kind of a whirlwind experience," said her father, John Blair, who flew home to Billings Wednesday after watching Tuesday night's pageant in Palm Springs.

After winning the crown, Katie was swept away to her own suite, with food laid out and the organization's personnel on hand to explain the reality of her new fairy-tale existence. As her father watched, Katie's life changed from typical teen to a celebrity, complete with handlers, managers and a public relations team.

"They just kind of handed out her schedule for tomorrow. Seven a.m. breakfast in her room. Eight a.m. her first photo shoot," he said. Afterward, her first press conference, then another photo shoot and the flight to New York City. Today's schedule included making the rounds of morning shows in New York.

While entering pageants is a lifelong pursuit for many contestants, the only previous pageant Katie entered was the statewide Miss Montana Teen USA preliminary competition. She entered the state contest so late that her picture failed to make it into the pageant book. The night before the statewide competition in Billings, the power went out at the Blairs' home. Katie woke the next morning with just minutes to get dressed before the competition's preliminary events began.

"Katie never took a shower the day of the Miss Montana (Teen USA) pageant," Blair said. "She just slapped some lipstick on." Before the national competition, Katie planned to start life as a freshman at Louisiana State University. She will put those plans on hold for at least a semester.

"It's just an incredible opportunity," Blair said. "Doors will be opened to her that are just hard to get into. She'll be involved with the Trump organization and NBC. Katie will have a national platform from which to speak on behalf of several charitable causes. She has also won a scholarship to the New York Film and Television Institute and a one-year modeling contract with Trump.

A contingent was in Palm Springs to cheer her victory. The bandwagon included her mother, Cindy Silverstein, of Houston, two grandmothers, and a 16-year-old brother and 11 year-old sister, who also live in Houston. During the competition, relatives waved Montana signs and pictures of Katie.

"The big thing is nobody from Montana has ever even made it in the top 15 before," Blair said. "I thought it might be great if she could make it into the top five and get the whole experience, but I knew it was against the odds she would win it, especially for a girl from Montana who hasn't had a lot of pageant experience."

The audience, he said, seemed to really get behind Montana after his daughter and the North Dakota contestant made the top five. As tension mounted, Blair was surprised to find pageant watching was a "pretty good sport."

During the two weeks Katie spent in Palm Springs, she lost some weight. Her custom-designed white evening gown, with its tight bodice and flouncy skirt, developed a tendency to slide downward slightly. During the dress rehearsal, she stepped on her dress and stumbled a little bit, which rattled her, Blair said.

"She didn't have the confidence and the swagger when she was modeling her dress," he said. Blair describes his daughter as upbeat and outgoing, a good student, athletic and active. She played basketball, soccer and ran track at the start of her high school years in Houston. She moved to Billings for her sophomore year to live with her father, graduating from West High in 2006. She is an avid football and basketball fan.

Her aunt, Leslie Blair, who lives in Billings, describes Katie as an outgoing girl with "a star quality about her that she's had since she was a little girl." Katie has already taken some teasing from her family over the interview portion of the competition, in which she described integrity as an all-out pursuit to achieve a goal, a gaffe her father chalks up to the pressure of a national television appearance.

In addition to the Palm Springs contingent, friends and relatives in Billings eagerly scrutinized her television appearance. Former co-workers at Victoria's Secret in Rimrock Mall, where Katie worked briefly as a sales associate this summer, were glued to their television sets.

"We were all watching it last night and calling each other," said Sarah Stewart, a co-manager at Victoria's Secret. When Stewart called the store to relay news from the competition to other employees, she could hear the girls cheering in the background. Before leaving Victoria's Secret, Katie told Stewart she had a pretty good shot at the title.

After catching the red eye flight from California it was immediately off to The Miami Dade Airport Hilton on Blue Lagoon Road. The morning and afternoon held the final qualifier in South Florida for this year’s Miss Florida Teen USA Pageant. It was also a Citrus Productions Day so we had pageant queens and tiaras throughout the hotel!

The first event started promptly at 10:00am as Miss Coral Gables USA 2007 Christi Anne Quesada acted as hostess for the event. Several age group competitions later it was time to take the final group picture! Then it was time to compete for the two titles. In the audience were pageant alumni Pam Rindone and Miss Pembroke Pines USA Lindsay Shockey for the FUSA camp. While the Miss Florida Teen USA competitors in the house were Miss Clearwater Teen USA 2007 Annabelle Desisto; Miss Melbourne Teen USA Brandi Wines; Leesa Gayle- Weetom (at-large delegate); Cristian Erickson, Miss Oakland Park Teen USA and Miss Homestead/Florida Keys Teen USA is Danyel Crecelius.

A proud FUSA alumni Pam Rindone with her family as they celebrate her sisters Little

Miss Citrus victory (left) & Miss Wines makes sure the Citrus contestants are in alphabetical order

All of the Teen USA delegates had a chance to get onstage and speak to the audience. Once again a big hand for the hard working volunteers of Citrus Productions. We look forward to seeing all of our Central Florida friends as the 2007 season concludes with Miss Florida Sunshine USA & Teen USA in Orlando. Look for pictures from the pageants the same day at either www.myspace.com/missfloridateenusa for pictures from the Teen USA competition and Miss USA competition pictures at www.myspace.com/theofficialmissfloridausa for those who can’t wait until Monday or Friday!

- Kudos to our Miss Florida USA 2000 Kristen Beall (Ludecke) as she is featured on Good Morning America this upcoming Monday August 28^th on ABC. Then look for periodic visits from Ms. Beall as she will give home and building advice. For those of you who don’t know, Ms. Beall has her General Contractors License (at the age of 19) and builds affordable Hurricane Proof Housing. Her current project, a community of 59 “Storm Safe Homes,” was featured in the New York Times, The International Herald Tribune, BUILDER Magazine, HGTVpro.com and several other local daily print and broadcast outlets across the country in addition to her television hosting duties. What an amazing opportunity and we are so proud of you Kristen!

- Kudos also go to our Miss Florida USA 2005 Melissa Witek on her success as a participant on NBC’s Treasure Hunters. For several weeks her “Team USA” participated in this world-wide scavenger hunt for buried treasure. Even though they were eliminated a few weeks ago, the entire cast gathered for a promotion filled final segment. Way to represent Melissa!

» 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!

This edition of Picture of The Week takes us back to Palm Springs, California for the crowning of our new Miss Teen USA. Now the pride of Montana we celebrate all that is good in teenage pageantry as it was one special month in the desert. After winning the POTW now Miss Blair’s year is complete!