I got to host the USA Pavilion at the World Expo (Shanghai, China). 'My feet touched the ground a few weeks ago,” Fakih said. She earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Michigan-Dearborn. She’s circled the globe visiting foreign dignitaries, but Thursday’s visit was her first official return to Michigan as Miss USA.īorn in Lebanon, Fakih moved to New York as an infant. Fakih’s crowning as Miss USA came in May, and it’s been a whirlwind for her since. Miss Michigan USA 2011 will represent the state at the Miss USA competition in Las Vegas in the spring of 2011. “We’ll have to experience the first time and see how it fits.” “We always do our contracts annually, so it’s something we’ll have to visit annually,” Pitchford said. Miss Michigan USA has a yearly contract with the city, so a return to the Power Center in 2011 isn’t guaranteed. “(Pitchford) came in, and we showed her what we had to offer, and once she saw the facilities we had, it was an easy choice to make.”

“The nightlife, the restaurants, the shopping. “They saw that we had a lot to offer as far as our community,” Poore said. The pageant spent the last 10 years in Port Huron, but Kristy Poore, convention sales account executive with the Convention and Visitors Bureau, brokered the deal to woo it to Ann Arbor. “With Michigan winning Miss USA, there’s going to be a wonderful pull of media into the Ann Arbor area.” “It will be more convenient and easier for the greater Detroit area to get to Ann Arbor,” Pitchford said. The proximity to Detroit should also make the event more appealing for Detroit media.

We knew this would be a great fit for our product.” “There is a large percentage of people that live in Michigan between the ages of 18 and 26, and that’s our demographic. 'Some of the exciting aspects of Ann Arbor were the number of hotels, the proximity to the airport is great for us, the Power Center for the Performing Arts and the age demographic,” said Melissa Pitchford, executive state director with the Miss Universe Organization. Miss USA, Rima Fakih of Dearborn, visited the Michigan UnionĬonvention and Visitors Bureau officials project an economic impact of $375,000 to Washtenaw County and Ann Arbor as an estimated 100 contestants and up to 2,000 supporters and family members visit area hotels and restaurants.

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