Miss Florida USA Faces

This very active weekend began Friday night. The Child is Missing Gala entitled Tour d' Vine at the chic Riverside Hotel featured our Miss Florida USA Jenna Edwards and a host of Broward County Titleholders. In celebration as the 2006 Beaujolais Nouveau which was premiered throughout the world this past weekend. The leaders of South Florida turned out for a silent auction, food celebration and celebrity grape stomping.

The evening began with a Rickshaw ride for Ms. Edwards down Las Olas signaling the debut of the Beaujolais Nouveau. Then it was up to the top floor for the party as the entranced was aligned with our celebrity greeters. On hand were Lindsay Shockey (Miss Broward County USA 2008); Constancia Vilomar (Miss Broward County Teen USA 2008); Alicia Castellano (Miss Pembroke Pines Teen USA 2007); Angel Coleman (Miss Oakland Park USA 2007); Christian Ericksen (Miss Oakland Park USA 2007); Amy Diaz (Miss Homestead/FL Keys 2007); and Danyel Crecelius (Miss Homestead/Fl Keys Teen USA 2007).

The celebrity stompers! (left) & The Edwards family in town for the big weekend!

The ladies were then a part of the parade into the main room as host/special guest Randy Rogers presented the evenings sponsors with special presentations from our titleholders. Then Ms. Edwards addressed the crowd on how excited the Miss Florida USA Program is to help children’s charities like “A Child Is Missing”.

Then it was time to go outside on the balcony for a celebrity grape stomping as it’s time to prepare the grapes for the 2007 edition! Ms. Edwards lead the stomper’s as every week she amazes us with her new skills! It was a wonderful evening as the event along with silent and live auctions raised over $200,000.00 for this group that assists in the efforts of relocating lost children and adults. Thank you to our Miss Florida USA Family in attendance and to “A Child Is Missing” for their outstanding efforts.

Ms. Edwards and Ms. Diaz presents a sponsors award to our friends at Joe DeMaggio Children’s Hospital in

Stars find comfort at track

From actors, to owners, to baseball players and even Miss Florida USA, they came to Homestead-Miami Speedway for the final race of the NASCAR season.

The Homestead-Miami race is a magnet for celebrities, and Sunday's Nextel Cup finale was no exception. Among those in the pits and garages before the Ford 400 were Grey's Anatomy star Patrick Dempsey, Boston Red Sox owner John Henry, Miss Florida USA Jenna Edwards, New York Yankees center fielder Johnny Damon, Atlanta Braves pitcher Mike Hampton and singer Nick Lachey, famous primarily for once being married to someone else who is famous.

And track officials said singer Jon Secada and Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez watched from the private Champions Club. Some of the celebs were doing more than just watching the race. Dempsey, co-owner of an Indy Racing League team, might be looking to invest in NASCAR.

''We'll see what happens,'' he said with a smile. ``There's nothing to talk about at this point.'' As for Sunday's race, Dempsey said he was hoping for a close competition that came down to the last lap. As long as Jimmie Johnson won the Nextel Cup championship. ''Jimmie Johnson, he's been so close the last few years,'' Dempsey said. ``I'd like to see him finally win it.''

Dempsey wasn't the only star aligned with the Cup points leader coming into Homestead. Hampton and Lachey, longtime friends of Johnson's, spent most of the afternoon in the driver's trailer.

Sunday’s final event of a very hectic weekend culminated with Ms. Edwards joining sister queen Miss Florida Teen USA Annilie Hastey as well as Miss Sunset Place USA 2007 Yazmin Navarro and Miss Sunset Place Teen USA 2007 on the catwalk for charity. This year’s “Evening of Giving” featured several local and international celebrities of Spanish media as well as local VIP’s and our Miss Florida USA contingent.

It was a lovely holiday celebration as Dadeland Mall in South Miami Dade closed to shoppers for the Sunday evening. Almost magically the mall turned into a winter wonderland as food; entertainment and 50% off from the participating stores! Macy’s, Guess and Cache were amongst the stores that were open with all of the revenues as well as the monies raised from the $150.00 ticket went to the Simon Malls Children Charity Fund.

Miss Nangkal (left) & The Hastey Family joined in on the evening’s festivities

The fashion show was the evening’s final event and was hosted by our very own Luis Aguirre as it was a who’s who of celebrities from Spanish networks Univision, Telemundo and Telefutura modeling the latest fashions. The styles were from the local retailers as Dadeland Mall has consistently ranked the mall with the most spending per capita in the United States. Thank you to all of our supermodels who so graciously donated their time for this wonderful event.

The Florida Women’s Chamber of Commerce Breakfast at Mar A Lago started the week on Wednesday as our Ms. Edwards escorted this years Apprentice winner to the dais and had the opportunity to meet our leader Donald Trump before his speech to the group. Then it was off to The Doral Resort and Country Club for a round of golf supporting another charity, check out the great swing of our Miss Florida Teen USA.

Check out that perfect form! (left) A photo opportunity with Mr. Trump (right)

» PICTURES & STORIES WANTED!

If you enjoy reading the stories of our Miss Florida USA Family and want us to know what great things are happening either during or after you reign please email us at telair@aol.com. We love touting our sorority of outstanding Florida women. Please send us a paragraph (or two) on your appearances, awards or community service and include pictures. We want you to have all of the support of this great lifestyle we call Miss Florida USA!

» 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!

With snow in Orlando and a winter spell taking control of the Sunshine State we thought this weeks Thanksgiving picture should be a warm one. So how much better can we do then this image of our Miss Universe in warm San Juan. Enjoy!