Showcasing the talents of Seal Beach women has been a long-standing tradition that goes back to heyday of the Seal Beach Joy Zone – the town’s short-lived attempt to compete as a beach amusement park along the lines of the Long Beach Pike, and Venice and Santa Monica.
Some of the most iconic of all photos from the Joy Zone days were those depicting the Seal Beach Bathing Girls Parade, which ran from 1917-thru 1919. Sponsored by the Bayside Land Company, in coordination with the town’s Chamber of Commerce, the contest—the first beauty pageant in Orange County, by the way—included local women competing against aspiring actresses employed at the new (and sometimes nearby) motion picture studios which were just beginning to spring up in Southern California.
Although well-attended at first, interest in the pageant dwindled along with the town’s popularity as a beach resort. After a poor turn-out in 1919 the pageant went inactive, as did the local Chamber.
On a few occasions in the early and mid-1920s, coincidentally when the Chamber of Commerce tried to re-activate itself, chamber directors tried unsuccessfully at least twice to revive the competition, including 1924 when Elsie McClellan presided over the town’s first Grunion Festival. However, in 1926, with the completion of the Coast Highway through Orange County, all the beach communities were invited to send a young lady (under the age of 14) to represent their community at the opening celebration. Eleven-year old Norma Barraclough was the first to be officially honored with the title of Miss Seal Beach.
During the 1930s, various Miss Seal Beaches represented the town as different social clubs would sponsor a young lady to represent the town at fairs around Southern California – the American Legion Celebration in Brea, the San Bernardino Orange Show, and the big Huntington Beach 4thof July Celebration in Brea, the San Bernardino Orange Show, and the big Huntington Beach 4th of July Celebration (which acted as the unofficial Orange County Fair prior till the end of World War II). The Masons, the American Legion, the Lions and other groups all sponsored a Miss Seal Beach, sometimes resulting in more than one Miss Seal Beach in the same year. A pageant returned to Seal Beach in May 1939 when a three –day festival was held to celebrate the re-opening of a new Seal Beach pier. Women from all over Southern California were invited to compete for the title of Queen of Seal Beach.
With the start of the 1950s, and a successful community movement to rid the town of gambling, the revived Chamber of Commerce again made sponsorship of the Miss Seal Beach pageant as one of its main events to promote the town as a family-friendly place to live. In addition to participating in local events, pageant winners also represented the city at the Orange County Fair and the National Orange Show in San Bernardino and at other events.  Since that time, with the exception of a few years, the pageant has been held continuously, providing young women in the community a perfect forum to develop poise and presentation and make valuable contributions of community service.
