I’ve just gotten back from the Peach City of Atlanta where friends Bill and Richard accompanied me to judge the Georgia Continental contests — promoter Jack Howard added a PLUS and Mr. contest this year and there was a slew of entertainers. Necole Luv Dupree was on-hand to give Miss GA up. She was joined by formers Lisha Paris, Martina Diamante, Raquel Lord and Erika Norell. Also present were Miss Continental Erica Andrews, the newly crowned Miss PLUS Amaya and Mr. Continental Antonio Edwards (who lived in Charlotte for a short while). The winner of Miss GA was Stasha Sanchez with runner-up Madison Taylor; the first Mr. GA Continental is D’Andre’ and Ivy White won Miss GA PLUS with RU Ava Chanel Alexandria.

A couple nights before, I was in Greenville, S.C., at the 25th Anniversary of the Miss Castle pageant. I ran into old friends Ray, Victoria Morgan (who was giving it up), Rose Michaels, LuAnne Landreth, Adara McDaniels and Dorae Saunders. It was also delightful to see bar owner Jimmy and the First Lady of Greenville, Miss Robin Redgrave. The winner ended up being Portia de Paris of Columbia and her RU was Kysha Wellington of Charlotte. While all the formers were great that night, I must brag on Dorae for turning her Tina Turner number completely out. The girl had carried on, as they say. Now I just have to figure out how to get those strappy rhinestone shoes from LuAnne.

Locally, we’ve had many contests I’ll tell you about. Miss Charlotte Newcomer was held at Scorpio recently and I’m sorry I missed it because I heard the winner Monica Lovette had on a gown for your last gay nerve. Her RU that evening was Starla DaVinci who has been working at Velocity and is trying to get things started up for the next generation of drag at Daks as well. And speaking of Daks, the most recent prelim to Miss NC FFI was there a week before Charlotte Pride — Miss Charlotte Pride, to be exact — and a very popular performer by the name of Elaine Davis won that one (yep, she’s moved back) with RU Macy Alexander. While on the subject of the NC FFI system, the Miss At-Large contest was just held in Hickory and my dear sister Dorae Sierra Saunders won. Her RUs were Malaysia Black and Big Shirli Chappelle Stevens. I know the glow I saw that night in the air was all the make-up shining on the stage at Club Cabaret, because those glrls love some paint.

Down Fayetteville way, they recently had the Miss Spektrum contest and a fishy Ericka Marxx won all categories but talent, which her RU Dy’mond Cartier took. Honey, that Dy’mond has been a busy girl lately, traveling, seeing and being seen, thank you.

On a bigger level, I’ll quickly list girls who have recently won spots or qualified to compete at the different national contests — keep up. Chelsea Pearl is the new Miss Ohio Classic U.S.ofA., Nancy Taylor won Miss TX and Sonia Ross is Miss Heartland. On the Miss Gay America scene, Kamrin Michaels is Miss Arkansas, Sasha Ncole is Miss Missouri and Brooke Lane won Miss Maryland. Jocelyn Santana won Miss IL Continental, Zori Zannell is the new Miss FL, Michelle Ilan is Miss Big Apple and Ty’ra Allure Ross is Miss Nueva Escuelita. For the Entertainer of the Year, we have A’sia as Miss Derby City, Demonica Santangelo is Prairie States, Angelique Ali is Miss Gulf Coast with RU Dee Ranged, Alexis Couture won Miss Michigan and former Miss Gay America Catia Lee Love won Miss Mid-America.

The next time, we’ll talk about our new Miss Gay U.S.ofA., who’ll be crowned the evening of May 27.