Las Vegas Weekly

October 7, 2008 · 3:14 PM

Miss America VIP Weidner already planning for January event

By Robin Leach

Photo: Venetian

Kirsten Haglund-Lynn Weidner.

Lovely Lynn Weidner is the "hostess with the mostest!” A former Miss New Jersey contestant in the Miss America pageant, she is the official one-woman Vegas welcoming committee -– and she’s already lining up all the judge’s activities for their January arrival. The elegant wife of Venetian/Palazzo Chief Executive Officer Bill Weidner also welcomed reigning Miss America, Kirsten Haglund to the resort casinos.

I got to chat with Lynn after she’d given Kirsten a tour of the hotels. Here’s our Q&A:

RL: So you have spent time with Kirsten, how is she as Miss America?

LW: She is wonderful. It is amazing to me that she was only 19 when she won the title. She was grown up then but even more so now. She is very bright, very articulate, and very comfortable -- definitely made for the job.

RL: Look back to when you were in the pageant, do you think the girls have changed over the years?

LW: Like anything else, and over these many years, you modernize, you get more contemporary. Certain core things are still the same. We still have very bright, ambitious, talented, hard working women interested in the pageant, they come for the scholarship money. They come for a springboard to their career. If you are a part of this organization, you have to be bright, you have to be well spoken, and you have to have a drive and ambition. I see the commonalities. My experience in the pageant is 36 years; the pageant has been around for 80 years. I think at the core, it hasn’t changed all that much. The fashion has changed, but at the core it is very much what it has always been.

RL: What are you already doing to welcome them all back to Vegas in January?

LW: I am busy lining up the dinners for the judges at various restaurants around town. The judges are here for an entire week and I have to make sure they are taken care of. I think we are going to do the ladies luncheon at Neiman Marcus Jan 22nd. As you know the finals are Jan 24th. Things are moving along. The girls are already in California filming their reality show.

I have already seen this years contestants at various times. It’s too soon to tell you what I think of this year’s contestants. I have a great advantage as I am with the contestants as they go in for their judges’ interviews so I get to spend time with them before and after.

RL: Is that the most important part of the competition?

LW: I think it is. That is the first time the judges meet them and form initial impressions. They determine her intelligence, can she think on her feet, answer difficult question, does she have a sense of humor, does she have a serious side? At the end of the day, do I like this girl?

RL: Kirsten is quite remarkable, and some of that stood out in her interviews.

LW:I know she had one of the best interviews in the pageant, 19 or not. On a year-in and year-out basis you can be sure that the girl who wins probably had one of the best interviews.

RL: And the interesting part is that Miss America 2007 picked Kirsten and said she will win. I am wondering if Kirsten can pick the one that will win.

LW: I went into the pageant broadcast knowing that Kirsten would be in the top three.

RL: Just from meeting her?

LW: I heard the interviews, watched her onstage, saw the talents. I had the advantage of being there for everything. You never know how the judges are thinking-, but I knew what I was thinking.

RL: Is it still as exciting to you after all of these years?

LW: It is exciting in a different way. As a contestant it is exciting, now it is fun to see all of these great young women having this opportunity. I am glad they came to Vegas They followed me here. Las Vegas is a great place for everything. What a great place to have it.

RL: Kirsten even said she might come to move here. Los Angeles or Vegas.

LW: I think she has had her first taste of sunshine and after growing up in Michigan she doesn’t want to give it up.

Share This