Featured artists, Melanie Masters and Vanessa Rayne will be attending this year’s pageant.
Since 1979, just seven years after the inception of the Miss Gay America and Miss Gay Arkansas pageants, Hot Springs has been home to one of the most competitive preliminary pageants. This year promises to revive the “early day” feel of the pageant as it returns to its original stage at The Vapors.
On March 11, contestants will vie for winner and alternate, thus qualifying them to compete in the 2024 Miss Gay Arkansas Pageant. Hot Springs can boast its share of notable state-level winners: Dusty Deville (1991), Debbye Taunts (1998), Fonda LaFemme (1999), and Raven St. James (2004). At the preliminary level, Nurse Nancy Dupree is celebrated as the city’s oldest living Miss Gay Hot Springs (1983) and Dixie Love is longest-reigning (2019-2023).
Most notable, perhaps, is Hot Springs’ own Norma Kristie, who clinched both Miss Gay Arkansas and Miss Gay America in 1972 – the Pageant system’s inaugural year. Featured artists attending this year’s event are winners Melanie Masters, Miss Gay Hot Springs Arkansas America (2023), and Vanessa Rayne, Miss Gay Arkansas America (2023).
Organizer and local photographer, Terri Lambert, says that while the preliminary contest has been held at various locations in the Spa City, it is exciting to bring the pageant back to The Vapors. In keeping with the venue, this year’s theme is “Mob Wives,” during which contestants grace the stage prior to judging in the presentation segment of the event.
The event begins at 7:30 PM on March 11, at The Vapors, located at 315 Park Avenue.
