Las Vegas Weekly

April 4, 2009 · 8:44 PM

Photo Gallery: Pageant exec wants Miss USA ‘to keep coming back’ to town

By Robin Leach

Planet Hollywood President Tom McCartney welcomes the contestants of the Miss USA 2009 pageant.

Photo: TVT

The 51 contestants in this year’s Miss USA pageant officially arrived this evening at Planet Hollywood, their home for the next two weeks until the live NBC broadcast April 19.

And the first announcement was from Miss USA/Miss Universe President Paula Shugart that even before this year’s parade of beauties, they will be back for 2010. Paula said: “We will be back next year, and we want to keep coming back.”

Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority board member and Clark County Commissioner Lawrence Weeks told me: “They should make Vegas their permanent home.” To which Paula chimed in, “It makes perfect sense; it’s our kind of place.”

Planet Hollywood President Tom McCartney welcomed them all with a long-stemmed rose, and last year’s winner, Crystle Stewart, said each one of the contestants could be the winner.

Earlier today, the girls visited the Nevada Cancer Center and tonight were off to Buca di Beppo Italian just off the Strip.

Our contributing photographers Denise Truscello, Tom Donoghue and Erik Kabik will be with the glamour girls throughout the weekend’s activities, and our Miss Nevada USA 2009 Georgina Vaughan is sending her personal reports to Vegas DeLuxe.

Here’s Georgina’s latest:

“I just got back to the room. What a great day! Eleven of the contestants and I headed over to the Nevada Cancer Institute to make bottles of hope out of clay. It was such a great time! To make us feel even more special at the end of the event, we were picked up in a stretch limo -- talk about the life! Now getting ready for our first huge welcome to Vegas event with all 51 girls!”

We’ll have more photos from their first day in Las Vegas tomorrow.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

Share This