Mr and Mrs America - in Niagara

Beauty pageants have not been in my thinking for decades.  I wondered what became of the Miss America Pageant.  It joins the Miss Universe, Miss World, Miss Earth and Miss International pageants.  These are the "big Four'. There are 190 countries involved and it is seen by more than half a billion people annually.    The entire list of female and male beauty pageants is extensive -  major and minor international pageants, continental and regional pageants, and national pageants.  The Men's pageants have interesting names such as Manhunt international. There are varying dates when female beauty pageants began - 1920 or 1926, probably depending on which pageant one is referring to.  It used to be that contestants needed to be 'of white race' until 1940.  There was also controversy in 1945 when a Jewish winner was told to change her surname.  She refused.  There are current controversial rules now.  They are listed HERE. They include not allowed to get engaged, never having any children - biological or adopted, never to have been pregnant, and so on. Today the big four female pageant organization and brand is owned by a talent agency.  Everything about the pageant is HERE on Wikipedia.  Did you know that Donald Trump bought the pageant in 1996?  The pageant was broadcast in the United States on NBC until 2014, but in September 2015, NBC cancelled all business relationships with Trump and the Miss Universe Organization in response to controversial statements about illegal immigrants who crossed the border from Mexico.  He became the sole owner, and then sold the company to WME/IMG. What about the Mister World pageant?  It is sponsored by the Miss World Organization.  It is biennial and started in 1996.  The entrants compete in various activities including waterskiing, mountain biking and marathon running.  Mr. Rohit Khandelwal became the first Asian to win the title of Mister World in July 2016. He also competed for various sub-titles at the pageant, including but not limited to Mr. World Multimedia Award, Mr. World Talent, Mobstar People’s Choice Awards, Mr. World Sports Event and won the subtitle of Mr. World Mutimedia Award.  You can see more HERE in Wikipedia on the Misters. Now we're up to date on beauty pageants - not much seems to have changed since I watched one on television in the 1960's.   Tomorrow I'll tell you more about yesterday's greenhouse tour of 7 growing greenhouses in Niagara.  This was the message at one of the stops on the tour.