Miss Virginia Pageant coming to Liberty University in 2018

Organizers of the Miss Virginia pageant — held in Roanoke for the past 64 years — celebrated its move to Liberty University in a press conference on campus on Thursday.

“The Miss Virginia organization is delighted to partner with Liberty University and bring our competition to Liberty beginning in 2018,” Co-Executive Director M.C. Gravely said. “We just can’t wait. The venue here, the facilities, are amazing. I’m sure it’s going to be a great partnership.”

After six decades at the Berglund Center, next year’s pageant will be held in the concert hall at the Center for Music and the Worship Arts. On hand for the announcement at Liberty Thursday were reigning Miss Virginia Cecili Weber, as well as current Liberty Law student and 2015 LU alumna Courtney Garrett, Miss Virginia 2015 and 2015 Miss America first runner-up.

Mark Schreier, director of marketing and production, said the new concert hall will enhance the pageant for the contestants and the audience. “This theater is state of the art. I cannot believe all of the bells and whistles that they offer. We are really excited that we get to take it to the next level, and being webcast like we are, everybody across the country will be able to see the new Miss Virginia being crowned in a state-of-the-art facility, and that’s what we’re really excited about.”

The organizers said the Miss Virginia Outstanding Teen program will also move to Liberty, using the Tower Theater for both preliminary and final competitions.

Harlen Gudger, co-executive director of Miss Virginia, said the move should help the pageant grow again after some recent drops in contestant numbers and ticket sales. The pageant lost its long-running TV program three years ago.

“As we move forward, we feel this is the perfect place for us to rebrand ourselves and to get out into the Virginia community again as we have been in the past, Gudger said. “We feel like maybe in another year or so, we will be able to go back on TV. Hopefully, being in this venue, we will be able to return to that broadcast that we’ve had in the past.”

The organizers said the pageant will now be called the Miss Virginia Pageant at Liberty University. While they did not give the dates of the upcoming event, the pageant typically runs in June. It also tends to bring an economic boost to the host community.

“Last year’s economic impact was about $1.1, $1.2 (million), somewhere in that area, in Roanoke,” Gudger said. “We definitely expect it to be at least that and probably better.”