Beach Revue brings back island’s past

GALVESTON — The sun wasn’t shining and the surf was rough, but a large crowd on the beach was pretty happy.

The bathing beauties contest was back.

The Saturday event was part of the Galveston Island Beach Revue, a weekend-long salute to the Hotel Galvez, which has graced the beachfront for 100 years. The contestants vied in two categories — vintage or vintage-inspired swimsuits and contemporary numbers.

Taking first place in the vintage or vintage-inspired category was Alana Anderson. The first runner-up was Annette Green and Alice Berry rounded out the top three.

A breathless Anderson was stunned at her win.

“I definitely didn’t expect this,” she said.” I’m shocked and exhilarated. I just did this for fun.”

Her winning number was a leopard print one-piece with a black halter strap. She accompanied it with a large, floppy hat and a leopard print scarf. The suit was created by Anderson’s mother, Kyle Contreras.

“It was Marilyn Monroe lingerie that my mom turned into a bathing suit,” Anderson said.

In the contemporary category, Amanda Hensley garnered first place, while Claire Leger and Franky Benavidez were first and second runners-up.

The Crowd Favorite award went to Traci Lynn Cowart.

Bathing beauty contests are nothing new in Galveston. They date back to the 1920s, when the event was known as the “Pageant of Pulchritude.” The contests lasted until 1932 and some say they were the forerunner of the Miss Universe pageant.

Perched on the edge of the seawall with a good view of the action was George Osborne, who got into the spirit of the event by wearing a dapper seersucker suit.

“It’s not pink, it’s mango,” Osborne said of the color. “It’s real comfortable. It breathes.”

Osborne got the suit off a vintage rack he said. He also sported a pair of black and white shoes and topped it all with a straw hat from his grandfather.

Jack Higgins and his son, Jackson, were there to cheer on Jack’s fiance, Casey Miller. The elder Higgins said he liked having the bathing suit contest.

“It was so different here when I was growing up. In the ‘70s and ‘80s, it was dead. Now, people are here all the time. Galveston is really picking up,” he said.

Jackson got to demonstrate some talents, too. In the kids hula hoop contest, he wiggled his way to a third-place finish.

“Keep on truckin, dude! Keep on truckin,” Higgins shouted from the sidelines.

Galveston Mayor Joe Jaworski served as one of the contest judges.

“This is why you run a year-and-a-half long campaign for office. So you can get to do something like this,” he said.

The mayor said the event will become a part of island life.

“This is our history, our future and our past all coming together on the beach,” he said. “This is going to become our trademark.”