Luxe Life Blog
Exclusive: Miss America shoe parade returns after five-year hiatus
Miss Virginia Caressa Cameron is crowned 2010 Miss America at Planet Hollywood on Jan. 30, 2010.
Photo: Tom Donoghue/www.donoghuephotography.com
For the first time since 2005, the Miss America Organization is bringing back a beloved tradition: the Miss America “Show Us Your Shoes” parade. The Miss America tradition continued up until 2005, when the pageant moved from Atlantic City to its new home in Las Vegas and the parade was dropped.
It all began in the early 1970s, when parade viewers overlooking the Atlantic City boardwalk wanted a better look at the beautiful shoes the contestants wore while traveling the parade route in the convertible cars. Thus the “Show Us Your Shoes” tradition was born, as the contestants happily obliged their fans in the bleachers.
Now on Jan. 14, the parade returns the day before the live ABC telecast from Planet Hollywood of the 90th anniversary of the pageant. All 53 contestants and many of the Miss America winners will take part in the comeback walk at the Arc de Triomphe and Eiffel Tower reproductions at the Paris.
I will serve as master of ceremonies to introduce the 2011 contestants and the past winners. 2010 Miss America Caressa Cameron will sing, and the public is invited to join the festivities with city officials, VIPs and celebrity guests, who will be on hand when a proclamation declaring it Miss America Day is read.
Miss America Organization Chairman Sam Haskell III said: “We are proud to have partnered with DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse to be the presenting sponsor for the 2011 Miss America Pageant. Through this partnership, we are able to celebrate a great tradition and create a new parade for the visitors of Las Vegas to enjoy.”
Miss America President and CEO Art McMaster added: “The parade will feature all 53 of the Miss America contestants, along with Miss Americas throughout the decades presenting their DSW shoes. This will be another special event that will help commemorate the pageant’s 90th anniversary.”
Vegas DeLuxe will have continuing coverage throughout the annual Miss America 90th Anniversary Pageant festivities, starting with the arrival of the contestants Jan. 6 to three days of preliminary competition and winding up with the Jan. 15 broadcast from the Theater for the Performing Arts in Planet Hollywood. We also expect to announce the panel of judges next week shortly before Thanksgiving.
The Miss America Pageant is set to call Las Vegas home at Planet Hollywood for another two years through 2013, as we previously exclusively reported. Brooke Burke of Dancing With the Stars and Chris Harrison of The Bachelor are this year’s hosts.
“We are so proud to be contributing to this great tradition and are extremely pleased that all of the Miss America contestants will be wearing and decorating DSW shoes,” said Mike MacDonald, president and CEO of DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse.
Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.
Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.
Follow Vegas DeLuxe on Twitter at Twitter.com/vegasdeluxe.
Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at Twitter.com/VDLXEditorDon.
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