Miss Iowa USA returns to Newton High School

One of the state’s most prestigious beauty pageants will take place at the Newton High School Center for Performance for the sixth consecutive year.

The 2017 Miss Iowa USA and Miss Iowa Teen USA pageants are slated to be held at NHS this weekend. Preliminaries are at 8 p.m. Saturday and the finale begins at 4 p.m. Sunday.

The event is one of the biggest of the year in terms of bringing people from all corners of the state into Newton. Many of the pageant’s arrangements have historically been handled by the Newton Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The Miss Iowa USA and Miss Iowa Teen USA pageants are the official state preliminary pageants to the national pageants. The young women crowned last year in Newton — Miss Iowa USA, Alissa Morrison of Davenport, and Miss Teen Iowa USA, Hannah Bockhaus of Tripoli — advanced to compete in their respective national-level competitions this summer, although neither one made the top 15.

The state competitions held in Newton are the signature event for Future Productions, which is the licensed producer. Libby Watkins, who is the pageant’s assistant director for Future Productions, said there is one major change to the Miss Teen USA format this year.

“You may have seen this summer that the teen portion of the competition made national news as the Miss Universe Organization eliminated the swimwear competition for the teens,” Watkins said. “They will now compete in Active Wear, accounting for one-third of the overall score. The Miss USA contestants will still compete in swimwear.”

Watkins said Annette West, Linda Bacon and Sue Beukema are the people she’s talked to in Newton, helping coordinate this large-scale event.

Hotels, restaurants and gas stations are among the beneficiaries of the event — about 1,000 visitors came to Newton for the 2014 competitions. Estimates state the pageant generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue for the local economy.

Newton’s Mariah Doland, who competed in 2014, has been the only Jasper County contestant in the five years Newton has hosted the competition.

The pageant consists of three equally scored areas of competition: evening gown, active wear and interview. Eligible contestants must be between the ages of 14 and 26 and be unmarried residents of Iowa who have never given birth in order to compete in the pageant.

The new titleholders will each receive thousands of dollars in college scholarships, prizes and awards. They will serve as role models for young women in Iowa by forging alliances with charitable organizations and civic groups and making many public appearances during their one-year reigns.

Tickets are available to the public for purchase for both the preliminary show and finale show through www.missiowausa.com or www.missiowateenusa.com. The cost is $29 for general admission and $44 for the "Golden Section," the front 200 of the Center for Performance's 800 seats. There is a $2 service charge per ticket. A rehearsal pass can be purchased for $12.

Contact Jason W. Brooks at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or jbrooks@newtondailynews.com