Pageant News Bureau - Miss New York 2004

Christina Ellington

It's a wonderful state

Photos by Joe Whiteko / PNB

You could spend a lifetime just learning about New York City. And it's a great place to visit. (You heard it here first.) But there's a big, fascinating state attached to this metropolis. The name New York covers a lot of ground.

Up the Hudson, there's the neat, rich countryside where Rip Van Winkle took his long nap and where Ichabod Crane took his moonlight ride. Those are just stories, of course, from the pen of Washington Irving. But you can almost hear the ghostly voices of the old Dutch farmers.

Farther on, there's the wilderness, a place of tall trees and waterfalls, where European colonists and the slowly retreating tribes fought many merciless battles. Battlefields are overgrown and silent now, but James Fenimore Cooper made the wars immortal.

And there's Watertown, near Lake Ontario. A great place to grow up. Such a leisurely pace, especially in summer. Remember the movie "It's a Wonderful Life." Come here, and you're there.

Speaking of wonderful, this is the home of the Miss New York Pageant. On June 26, 2004, PNB came to Watertown to be part of the annual summer ritual. We're grateful to Joan Jones, the Miss New York executive director, for making us welcome.

The winner was Christina Yvette Ellington, Miss South New York, an opera singer and graduate of New York University. Her platform is The Power of Our Nation's Education. Her next stop is the Miss America Pageant. The first runner-up was our old friend, Kandice Pelletier (above in swimsuit and dancing), Miss Manhattan.

Morgan Maholick, Miss Greater Rochester (and Miss New York Teen USA 1999)

Stephanie Quimby, Miss Thousand Islands

Whether she's from the Big Town or the Big Woods, a New York girl couldn't do better than competing in this pageant. Quote PNB on that.