Parade Offers First Glimpse of Miss New Jersey Contestants

Crowds lined the Boardwalk on Wednesday night as the Miss New Jersey Pageant Parade kicked off four days of pageantry in Ocean City.

The parade featured the 25 contestants who will vie for the Miss New Jersey title and the opportunity to represent the state in the Miss America Pageant in Las Vegas in January

A north wind and a light drizzle toward the end of the parade made for a chilly evening, but the weather did not stop the contestants from dressing as nursery rhyme characters, waving to fans and, in a pageant tradition, "showing their shoes."

For Ocean City, the parade provided an opportunity to bring visitors to the Boardwalk during an early-season weekday. Some spectators paused only briefly to watch the parade as they made their way to other Boardwalk attractions. Many were friends and family of contestants, donning T-shirts bearing the likenesses and names of their favorite pageant entrants. Still others were there because they're excited about getting a first glimpse of the contestants.

"It's like April in baseball," said Don Ortley of Philadelphia, who was there with his three daughters. "Anybody can still be the winner."

Two nights of preliminary competitions in talent, evening gown and swimsuit start on Thursday evening (June 14) at 7:30 p.m. on the Ocean City Music Pier. 

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For tickets:
Call 609-315-1423.Tickets are $35 for preliminaries, $50 for the final with a package price of $100 for all three nights.For other pageant information, call 609-525-9300.

To see a list of contestants:
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The first Miss America was crowned in Atlantic City in 1921. Two Miss New Jersey winners — Bette Cooper (1937) and Suzette Charles (1984) — have been crowned Miss America. Charles was runner-up to Vanessa Williams, but was crowned when the title was stripped from Williams, who had posed for nude photographs in Penthouse magazine.

Check out our gallery of contestants by clicking on the image icons above. If you have your own photos of the parade, upload them here. Anybody can do it. Just click on the "Upload Photos and Videos" button.

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