Miss Vermont USA and Teen USA Titleholder History

Miss Vermont shrinks from Mink

What was all over the headlines at Miss USA 1956? “Miss Vermont Does Not Like Live Minks”, “Miss Vermont says only raises mink, does not wear them”, “Miss Vermont takes dim view of mink” “Miss Vermont has high regard for minks her family owns” “Miss Vermont Cold to Mink”, and my personal favourite “Miss Vermont, Up from Farm, Is Sure Mink Hath No Charm” … Dolores Wettack indeed grew up on a mink farm and newspaper editors were having a field day with it.

Miss America crossovers

Both Miss Vermont USA 1959 Sandra Laquerre and Miss Vermont USA 1960 Carole Demas were runners-up at Miss Vermont (America) 1960 – waiting to give up your title wasn’t an issue back then!

Carole Demas – who was also first runner-up at Miss Vermont (America) 1959 – later went on to a successful Broadway role as “Louisa (The Girl)” in The Fantasticks before starring as Sandy in the original Broadway production of Grease.

Ski Bunnies

The 1968-1970 pageants were held at the Mount Snow ski resort – with the winners receiving a season ski pass, free skis and ski apparel, a uniquely Vermonty prize package. 1970 winner Cindy Jurewicz was from New Jersey but representing Mount Snow (where she worked) in the competition – runners-up that year included “Miss Student Ski Association”, “Miss Haystack Ski School” and “Miss Okemo Ski Area”!

“Hitch-Hiking Hippie Enters Miss USA Contest Ski-Selling”

One of my all-time favourite headlines of any pageant-related article has to be this one about Miss Vermont USA 1968 Susan Glynn, a self-proclaimed hippie, hitchiker and snow bunny who brought her guitar to Miss USA. You can read the rest in the “News Clippings” section in the photo galleries below. While there were separate photos of her strumming for some fellow contestants, sadly the main articles about her weren’t matched with photos, a lost opportunity if you ask me.

Green Mountain takeover

In the 1970s four consecutive Vermont winners were out-of-state students at Green Mountain College in Poultney. 1972 winner Stacey Becker and 1973 winner Bonnie Height were both originally from New Jersey – Bonnie helped tend horses for a trainer at Monmouth Park – and their back-to-back Miss Amity (Congeniality) winners Donna Thornton (1974) and Constance Crabtree (1975) were both from Connecticut. In the 1973 pageant seven of the ten contestants were from Green Mountain College as were all five finalists in 1975 (no word on how many among the 22 contestants). Ironically the 1976 winner Susan Parsons was a native of Poultney who attended the University of Vermont.

The Most Congenial State

Vermont has won five Miss Congeniality awards (or Miss Amity, as it was known in the early days), more than any other state – and has many Congeniality awards as they do placements. Four of the five came in a 10 year period between 1969 and 1978, including back-to-back awards in 1974. The first was Mary Verdiani in 1969. She also finished first runner-up in the pageant, Vermont’s second highest placement and their most recent top five finish. The most recent Congeniality winner was the gorgeous Michelle Fongemie in 2004 – I had the pleasure of sharing a room with her when I attended Miss USA 2012 in Vegas!

Sister Act

In 2022 Kelsey and Kenzie Golonka became the first sisters to win a state’s Teen and Miss titles in the same year! Kelsey was previously Miss Vermont Teen USA 2017 herself and is the first Vermonter to place in both pageants. In making the top 12 at Miss USA 2022 she broke Vermont’s 30 year non-placement streak. Kenzie wore Kelsey’s Miss Teen USA gown (minus the train) to win the Miss VT Teen USA title.

Vermont directors

The pageant is currently directed by Glenn Brown of GDB Pageant Productions. Past directors of the Miss Vermont USA and Teen USA pageants have included:

• Christy Beltrami, Miss Vermont Teen USA 1987 & Miss Vermont USA 1994, and her husband who took over the franchise from 1998-2001.
• Michael Galanes, 2001-2007
• Laurie Clemente and Clemente Productions, 2007-2010
• Randy Sanders and Pageant Associates, 2010-2017