Miss'd America :: Atlantic City to Crown a New Queen!

JC Alvarez READ TIME: 2 MIN.

It's the middle of winter and bitterly cold outside, so hitting the beachfront may be last thing on your mind. But to prove that it keeps things hopping, the Jersey Shore is raising the temperature in anticipation of crowning Atlantic City's newest Miss'd America. The drag competition returns once more to the seaside community taking over historic Boardwalk Hall, (the former home of the original Miss America Pageant before millionaire mogul Donald Trump moved the competition to Las Vegas), this weekend on Saturday, January 21. The race for the crown begins at 8pm.

Every year the Miss'd America Pageant has drawn some of the drag community's most diverse and thrilling talent. The 2011 reigning queen Kitty Hiccup magnificently stole the show with a winning performance that will be the standard by which this year's Miss'd America hopeful will be selected. This year's contestants range from local fare - aspiring names from surrounding parts of Jersey, to several of NYC's own sparkling personalities, to challengers from as far south as Orlando.

Hot off his fox trot on this season's "Dancing With the Stars" TV personality Carson Kressley is once again hosting this year's event with a very special performance from dance diva Martha Wash who will be striking it up for her avid fans. Also performing will be "American Idol's" Erika Schiff. And of course the Miss'd America contestants will be competing in several categories, including fashion and talent, that will prove physically challenging . The race is on and everyone will have to step it up.

All the Pageantry...

The pageant isn't all glitz and glamour. At its core it's a charitable opportunity to raise much needed funds for local agencies that support and service local LGBT causes and outreach. Last year's event raised $30,000 and this year's organizers are confident that they can raise the stakes.

Along with the magnificently entertaining pageant that anchors the weekend, Atlantic City will also host partnering events including the afternoon's attraction "Wet Wild Wonderful" at Harrahs Pool on Saturday, January 21 @ 3pm hosted by the always bountiful Bianca Del Rio and special guest DJ Michael DeCero.

The Miss'd America pageant is hosted this year by Atlantic City's premiere gay destination the Resorts Hotel which will also be launching the weekend with a pre-party event at "Night Fever". It'll give guests an opportunity to get their groove on before the show Saturday night, and the featured post-pageant celebration at "Pro Bar" at Resorts.

For tickets for this year's Miss'd America Pageant on Saturday, January 21 in Atlantic City's legendary Boardwalk Hall goto www.ticketmaster.com.


by JC Alvarez

Native New Yorker JC Alvarez is a pop-culture enthusiast and the nightlife chronicler of the club scene and its celebrity denizens from coast-to-coast. He is the on-air host of the nationally syndicated radio show "Out Loud & Live!" and is also on the panel of the local-access talk show "Talking About".

Read These Next