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Associated Press Writer
January 19, 2006, 7:26 PM EST
LAS VEGAS -- Back home, Miss America had an ocean. Here, she's queen of the desert.
Gone are the traditions that once defined her _ the beach photo shoots, the Boardwalk parades, the morning-after Atlantic Ocean frolic by the newly crowned Miss.
Transplanted to Las Vegas, the Atlantic City, N.J., beauty contest has traded in some of its most cherished traditions in hopes that the change in scenery can turn its luck and revive ratings.
Viewers who tune into this year's show (8 p.m. EST Saturday, Country Music Television) may not notice the differences, but in the world of Miss America, the new locale represents a sea change of sorts.
"It's always going to be a part of the pageant," said Ric Ferentz, the Miss America Organization's pageant historian, referring to the ocean tradition. "It's not like we're erasing that. But now we're sharing the pageant with the rest of the country."
In Atlantic City, the annual pageant was run principally by volunteers, many of them second- and third-generation "hostesses" who chaperoned the women around town and made sure no one went astray.
When the Miss America contestants arrived each Labor Day, they were welcomed by a squad of Atlantic City Beach Patrol lifeguards, oars in hand, and introduced in a ceremony next to the beach.
When they got dolled up in lavish state-themed costumes for the annual Miss America parade, they rode down the oceanfront Boardwalk in open convertibles, cheered by thousands of people.
"We had hundreds of volunteers, and the thing worked like clockwork," said Art McMaster, chief executive of the Miss America Organization.
In Las Vegas, it's been a more professional affair. Twenty-four pageant hostesses and volunteers are here, but most of the people running the Miss America operation have either been hired for the occasion or are affiliated with Country Music Television or the host Aladdin Resort & Casino.
No new traditions are replacing the old ones, although Las Vegas and the host casino have rolled out the welcome mat.
The image of reigning winner Deidre Downs peers down from billboards. And at the Aladdin, the card-style hotel room keys have her photograph emblazoned on them.
Other casinos have asked to get involved, too.
"I'm getting all these calls from casinos asking `Are you locked in?" said Phyllis George, the former Miss America-turned-sportscaster, now a member of the pageant's board of directors. "Barry Manilow was all over us, inviting the girls to the show, but we couldn't fit it into the schedule."
But on Friday night, there'll be no parade. And on Sunday, the new Miss America will check out of her hotel and hit the road, with no ceremony _ ocean dip or otherwise _ to mark the occasion.
"I'm very sad about the parade," said Miss New Jersey Julie Robenhymer. "But if I win, I'm inviting all 51 of the other contestants to come back to Atlantic City and have a parade with me for my homecoming," said Robenhymer, 24, of Moorestown.
Some traditions, meanwhile, are coming back.
Miss Congeniality, an award given to the contestant most popular with her peers, is returning _ for the first time since 1974. And the sashes that contestants wore for decades, which were jettisoned in the '80s as Miss America tried to downplay her beauty queen image in favor of down-to-earth role model, are back, too.
Back in Atlantic City, former pageant volunteers left behind by the move plan viewing parties. And at least one Miss America tradition will go on.
The Miss'd America Pageant, a spoof held at a gay nightclub _ featuring drag queens competing in talent and evening wear _ will resume this year, albeit in September.
"We'll be the only pageant in town," organizer John Schultz said.
On the Net: Miss America Organization Web site: http://www.missamerica.org/
newsday.com
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