Arkansas Blog

HOT SPRINGS NEWS RELEASE

HOT SPRINGS NATIONAL PARK, Arkansas — The Miss Arkansas Pageant
organization has agreed to move the dates for its event, beginning with
the 2008 Pageant, it was announced today by the Hot Springs Convention
and Visitors Bureau.

“This wonderful act of generosity by the Miss Arkansas Board will solve
future scheduling conflicts between two of Hot Springs’ other important
meeting groups,” said Scott McClard, chairman of the Hot Springs
Advertising and Promotion Commission, which administers the CVB.

“A scheduling conflict arose this year when the Hot Springs Music
Festival and the Arkansas Harley Owners Group [H.O.G.] discovered that
the early June dates for their two events in Hot Springs would overlap
slightly,” McClard said. “The A&P Commission contributed $15,000 to the
Music Festival to allow organizers to relocate some of their 2007 events
to eliminate any possibility that the activities of the two groups might
conflict with their participants’ enjoyment of the city and its amenities.

“When Director Kelly Hull and the Miss Arkansas Pageant Board stepped
forward with an offer to move their pageant week from early June to
July, it allowed the CVB to offer meeting dates to the Music Festival
and H.O.G. Rally that will remove the possibility of scheduling
conflicts in the future. We are profoundly grateful for this act of
generosity by the Miss Arkansas Pageant, which has made Hot Springs its
home for 50 years.”

Steve Arrison, executive director of the CVB, said -Hull, whose father,
Bob Wheeler, served as director of the pageant for more than 40 years,
should be commended by all Hot Springs citizens for helping solve the
scheduling problem.

“Hot Springs is known worldwide for our hospitality and amenities for
meetings, conventions, festivals and other groups,” Arrison said.
“Kelly’s unselfish offer to change the dates of future Pageants allows
us to maintain that reputation for hospitality for all groups that want
to take advantage of our great attractions, scenic beauty and
unsurpassed meeting facilities.”

“Now the Miss Arkansas Pageant, the H.O.G. Rally and the Music Festival
can continue to enjoy all that Hot Springs has to offer,” he said.

The Music Festival will be held June 3 – June 16. The H.O.G. Rally will
take place June 7 – June 9.

The 2007 Miss Arkansas Pageant will be held June 20 – June 23.

The dates for future Pageants will be July 16 - 19, 2008; July 15-18,
2009; July 14-17, 2010; July 13-16, 2011, and July 11-14, 2012.

The Miss Arkansas Scholarship Pageant is an official state preliminary
of the Miss America Organization.

The Miss Arkansas Pageant has sent a representative to Miss America
since 1938. The Pageant was moved permanently to Hot Springs in 1957, at
which time it was held outdoors at Oaklawn Park.

Rich in history and social significance, the Miss America Organization
is a not-for-profit corporation that has maintained a tradition for many
decades of empowering American women to achieve their personal and
professional goals, while providing a forum in which to express their
opinions, talent and intelligence.

The Miss America competition exists for the purpose of providing
personal and professional opportunities for young American women and
promoting their voice in culture, politics and the community.

In addition to conducting the annual national competition, the
Organization acts year-round as the nation's leading achievement program
and largest scholarship fund for young American women.

Each year the Miss America Organization attracts approximately 80,000
contestants for competition and fosters a large network of more than
300,000 volunteers who organize all state and local competitions to
further scholarship and achievement among young women in their communities.

The Miss Arkansas Pageant is co-sponsored by the Miss Arkansas
Scholarship Foundation, Inc., the Hot Springs Advertising & Promotion
Commission, the Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce and the City of
Hot Springs.