Hotels In Muskegon Michigan

Miss Michigan pageant returns to Muskegon this week

Miss Michigan and Miss Michigan's Outstanding Teen preliminaries will be Wednesday and Thursday with the teen finals Friday. The new Miss Michigan will be crowned Saturday.

Two former Miss Michigans, Kelly Garver Nieto (1986) and Barbara Jean Crandall Daniels (1984), will emcee the competition.

Current Miss Michigan Katie LaRoche and 2008 Miss Michigan Ashlee Baracy will emcee the Outstanding Teen competition.

The new Miss Michigan will compete in the Miss American competition in Las Vegas later this year, and Miss Michigan's Outstanding Teen will compete at the national level in Orlando.

Miss Michigan wins $10,000 in scholarship money. The first runner-up wins $5,000, the second runner-up wins $4,000, the third runner-up winds $3,000, the fourth runner-up wins $2,000 and five semi-finalists each win $1,000.

All other contestants win $400 each and have a chance to win nonfinalist awards for talent and interviews. Preliminary awards for the talent, swimsuit and evening-wear competitions are given out during the first two nights of the competition.

Shelley Taylor, the pageant's executive director, said the organization's emphasis is on education and community service. Current Miss Michigan LaRoche plans to earn a Ph.D. after traveling the world to promote her anti-human trafficking platform, and current Outstanding Teen Brooke Rowland plans to study law, she said.

“These young women are really something. It's not just a pretty face,” she said. “I couldn't be more proud of these young women and what they represent.”

The Miss Michigan candidates must be high school graduates, be at least 17 years old, live or attend school full time and have never been married.

A panel of judges scores the contestants from one to 10 points in five categories. The highest and lowest scores are then thrown out and the remaining scores are plugged into a formula to determine the winner.

The categories are given different weights in determining the winner, with a 90-second talent routine making the biggest impact on the final score, at 35 percent. An interview with the panel of judges makes up 25 percent, evening wear is 20 percent, swimsuit is 15 percent and the on-stage question is 5 percent.

Miss Outstanding Teen's formula is similar, but the interview about the contestants' backgrounds, goals and opinions makes up 30 percent of the final score. Talent is 35 percent, evening wear is 15 percent, active wear is 10 percent, the on-stage question is 5 percent and scholastic achievement makes up 5 percent.

Hot Rod Power Tour 2011: Muskegon, MI, to Detroit. - Hot Rod ...

For most of the tour I rode or drove in one of the new vehicles supplied by GM Performance Division. Both the Traverse and the Suburban served as our mobile office along the Tour, where we uploaded blogs, edited videos, and shot photos. Their cushy seats, smooth ride, and air-conditioning made the drive a breeze, but the point of Power Tour is to experience hot rods on back roads and highways, so I elbowed my way into the Rustoleum ’69 Road Runner for the drive from Muskegon, Michigan to Detroit. Dennis Pittsenbarger had piloted the Road Runner for the previous 1,400 miles, so I sat shotgun.

When we started at our hotel it was cloudy, but dry. Just after we loaded our luggage into the massive trunk, we had our first mishap. The Edelbrock carb, installed just prior to Power Tour during the car’s 22-day build, began acting up. After we pulled the air cleaner we found that the choke was completely closed. Since we were staying in the same hotel as the guys from Edelbrock, they gave us a tuning lesson. Problem #1 solved. When we tried to fire the 440 up to leave, the 40-year-old ignition switch went on the fritz. Then it started raining. Thankfully we were parked near an incline and only had to push it a bit, and at every stop along the way the key worked without a hitch.

I think I picked the perfect leg of the trip to spend in a car without A/C. We had rain most of the way, but we pulled over when there was a break in the clouds to get some photos of our Mopar ride.

You had it made, my wife, Anita, and I did the tour in our FActory Five Cobra with out a top, no AC, no windows , no radio and almost no mufflers!!! I think we were the only car to do the entire tour in an open car without a top. Cold and rain the last two days was tough. The both retired the friday before the tour started and decided it would be a great way to start the retirement, drive ~3000 miles (to detroit and back to Florida in an open car with no top. What could go wrong??? We got a lot of pictures taken of us in the rain, but no offers to ride in a nice warm, dry car.

HISTORY OF MUSKEGON COUNTY,MICHIGAN WITH ILLUSTRATIONS

The automobile blue book

Hotel monthly

The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922

Plunkett's Airline, Hotel & Travel Industry Almanac 2007, Airline, Hotel & Travel Industry Market Research, Statistics, Trends & Leading Companies