Arlington steals Miss Texas and Miss Teen Texas pageants from under Fort Worth’s nose

Representative Joe Barton (R-TX) approached pageant officials after serving as a judge in 2008.

ARLINGTON — Jean Magness, Executive Director of the Miss Texas Pageant and Jean and Jay Burress, President & CEO of the Arlington Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB), announced the relocation of the Miss Texas and Miss Teen Texas Pageants to Arlington.

The pageants, which are held concurrently each year, will now be held at Texas Hall at the University of Texas Arlington. The move came after pageant staffers were approached by Arlington officials including Representative Joe Barton (R-TX), a 2008 pageant judge, and Joe Bedsole, Director of State and Corporate Accounts with the Arlington CVB, to discuss a possible move to Arlington. The decision to relocate was made to provide a fresh, new face to the pageant in the fast-growing city of Arlington. The 2009 Miss Texas and Miss Teen Texas Pageants will be held on July 3 at 7 p.m.

The pageant board voted unanimously in favor of the move to Arlington. The pageants have been held for the past 46 years at Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum in Fort Worth.

Source: Miss Texas Organization