Miss America Has Left the Building

Miss America is packing up her tiara and leaving the city she’s called home for 84 years.

The famous beauty pageant, a fixture on the Boardwalk since its 1921 beginning as a bathing beauty revue, announced Thursday that it would seek another city in hopes of changing its luck.

The pageant is in financial straits and last year lost its broadcast network TV contract with ABC. It will entertain relocation offers immediately, pageant Chief Executive Art McMaster said.

McMaster surprised the Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority on Thursday by asking it to release the pageant from the last two years of its five-year contract to stage the annual event in Boardwalk Hall, where Miss Americas have been crowned since 1940.

The board voted 7 to 0 to release the pageant, saying it did not see the point in prolonging what Miss America officials said were money woes affecting the contest in New Jersey.

“It’s a sad day,” said James Whelan, a board member and former mayor. “We felt we really didn’t have any choice but to grant their request.”

McMaster, who last year took over the ailing nonprofit group that runs Miss America, said the loss of millions of dollars in television revenue had forced the organization’s hand. ABC dropped the show in October after low ratings.

McMaster said the pageant could save up to $1 million by moving to a new city, between reduced telecast production costs and site fees potentially offered by a new location. He insisted that no deal or offer was on the table.

Under a TV deal with cable country music channel CMT that was announced in June, this year’s Miss America pageant was moved from its typical September slot to January.

But neither the pageant nor the network said where the next pageant would be held, fueling speculation that Atlantic City’s signature event would head to Nashville, where CMT is based.

Despite bowing to the pageant’s request, authority members and residents at the meeting Thursday reacted coolly to the planned move.

“There’s been too much put into this program by this community through the years to allow you to just walk away,” said Pinky Kravitz, a local radio talk show host who attended the meeting.

Come hurricanes, contestant scandals or poor Nielsen ratings, Miss America was as constant as seagulls, sunburns and saltwater taffy. The pageant was synonymous with Atlantic City.

Community volunteers took vacation time each September to work the pageant, escorting contestants from place to place, cooking for them and helping them focus on the crown. For them, Thursday was a day of mourning.

“It’s similar to going through a death,” said former Miss America board member Jayne Bray, 55, who worked as a volunteer or board member for 25 years. “I’m just saddened. September will never be the same in this town.”