Miss America 2017 preliminary competitions will continue September 7 and 8.
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30, 2016 photo shows Miss Vermont Rylee Field at a welcoming ceremony for the Miss America contestants in Atlantic City. “Every girl here is so talented”.
“From the state with the highest number of lightning strikes in the nation, I’m comin’ in hot!” said Miss Florida, Courtney Sexton.
But it wasn’t all quips: Each contestant also offered up a deeper cause that they hoped to promote if they were declared Miss America.
“From the state that gave you your first phone exchange – America, can you hear me now?” asked Miss Connecticut Alyssa Rae Taglia.
“One piano can create 1,000 musicians”, she said.
“It pays for those mortgages and auto payments so all their attention is on these children who have cancer”, she said.
“The greatest casualty is being forgotten”, she said.
Grace Burgess, 22, took home the Miss Tennessee title back in June, and this Sunday on ABC 7 she’ll compete for Miss America.
The competition was held at Boardwalk Hall in the city where the pageant began in 1921 as a way to extend the summer tourist season beyond Labor Day weekend.
As for the swimsuit competition, that was won by Miss District of Columbia, Cierra Jackson.
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“You let your light shine and then other people are able to see that”, Jackson said after her win, thanking her pageant trainer, adding that he works with other Miss America contestants, including Miss West Virginia and Miss Maryland.
