CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The City of Charleston will welcome nearly 150 beauty queens from all over the world for the two-week International Pageants Final Competitions next year.
The company announced it will move its annual final competitions to Charleston from Jacksonville, Fla.
“We’re extremely pleased to get this piece of business,” said Alisa Bailey, president and CEO of the Charleston Convention and Visitors Bureau. “Lots of times Charleston is not on the forefront of everyone’s minds, so we were just really glad to get something of this magnitude into the city.”
Bailey said they signed a three-year contract with International Pageants to be the host site for their final competitions for the period of Summer 2017 through Summer 2020.
The Miss & Miss Teen International Pageants will be held August 3-5, 2017 at the Clay Center. The Mrs. International Pageant will be held August 11 & 12, 2017 at the Cultural Center. The host hotel for all three divisions will be the Charleston Marriott Town Center.
Bailey said the event will also generate millions of dollars in revenue for local businesses.
“There’s a lot of buzz that goes with it,” she said. “All of our events that come in here — they come here, they spend the night and certainly the hotels reap the benefits, but so do all the retailers and the restaurants.”
Bailey said attracting more businesses through two, three-year deals or more is key.
“Our new strategy, frankly, in trying to get meetings and conventions here is to do multiple years , so that’s been a big strategy for the Convention and Visitors Bureau to try to not just book you for one year, but books you for two or three years,” she said.
The finals are broken down into three competitions. The Mrs. International pageant showcases married women ages 21 to 56 and includes their husbands as an integral part of the show. Miss International features single women ages 19 to 30 and Miss Teen International focuses on young women ages 13 to 18.
Each contestant will be compete in fashion wear, fitness wear, evening gown and be interviewed about their platform.
State and country preliminaries occur between the months of January and May with the finals in July. Contestants come from all 50 states in the U.S. and more than 60 countries.