Pageant News Bureau - Kandice Pelletier 3

P a g e a n t N e w s B u r e a u

She has 'em talking

Photos by Joe Whiteko / PNB

Miss New York first runner-up Kimberley Ferdinando with Kandice Pelletier

Miss New York first runner-up Kimberley Ferdinando (left) with Kandice Pelletier

It's not polite to take too many bows, but PNB is proud to be a small part of this year's good news.

When we wrote frankly in late 2004 about the crisis gripping Miss America, some misguided "loyalists" denounced us. A few even demanded that we apologize for printing the truth. They wanted us to be pageant hypocrites, lavishing praise in public and venting poison anonymously in chatrooms. Sorry, that's not the American way.

Fortunately, true pageant fans agreed with us. Even more happily, the wiser heads at the Miss America Organization acknowledged the crisis and took action. Three cheers for them!

Kandice Pelletier

Kandice with New York musician Matthew Taylor and her sister Kendra Pelletier

This year is like heaven. The sashes are back, the quiz is gone and the girls are glamorous, even sexy. Whatever the ratings may be, the great lady called Miss America is on her way back.

But none of us could have done it without the contestants. They are the reason for the spectacle, and each of them carries a million people's hopes on her shapely shoulders.

Kandice and Joe Naughton, director of the Miss Greater New York City Pageant, her hometown pageant

Kandice with designer Stephen Yearick

Kandice with choreographer Shea Sullivan

In New York, the largest city in America, people needed hope. The Giants did not get far in the playoffs. But now the city is looking toward Jan. 21, when Kandice Pelletier sports the New York sash at the Miss America Pageant in Las Vegas. She represent her whole state, from Coney Island to the Great Lakes, but she started out as Miss Greater New York City, and she's even a Radio City Rockette.

Who will win Miss America is anyone's guess, but New York has a lot of faith in its girl with the legendary legs. Someone has said that if they ever carve legs on the Statue of Liberty, the model will be Kandice Pelletier. And if the statue had a smile like Kandice Pelletier's, no one would ever leave New York.

Kandice and Rockette friends and (at right) with a jewelry box she was given before she left for Vegas. "Fill 'er up, please!"

For some looks back at Kandice click here ... and here

P a g e a n t N e w s B u r e a u