What’s up – June
You can find Ian Dallimore most mornings paddling around University Lake on his stand-up paddleboard. The innovations and digital strategist for Lamar Advertising always kept fit, but with his family getting bigger—a 4-month-old recently joined 2-year-old triplets—he had to get creative about putting in workout time.
“Having kids now and not being able to participate in sports like I used to, I was kind of looking for something I could pick up and do anytime, whether at five in morning or on the weekend,” Dallimore says.
He discovered the sport via the local Muddy Water Paddle Company during a demo day on University Lake last year. He bought a 12-foot YOLO board the next day.
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“We [he and his wife Katie] go to the beach a ton, so I’ve seen a lot of people out there do it,” he says. It wasn’t long before he participated in his first stand-up paddle-boarding race. This year, he’s got four more on the roster—one on the Mississippi River, two at University Lake and another in Pensacola, Florida.
“The cool thing about it is that there’s a solid group of people who constantly participate in races together and hang out together. That was an interesting thing to me as well,” he says.
Since 2008, Las Vegas has played host to the annual Miss USA pageant. That was until Baton Rouge wooed Donald Trump into moving the glitzy long-running competition here for 2014.
The Capital City was one of 12 that vied for host city duties. “[It’s] just a place that really wanted us,” Trump said when announcing the move on the Today show in March. “We just decided that’s sort of the home of pageantry, it’s sort of the home of the whole beauty thing. They’re terrific people, and they’re going to put on a great show.”
While participants and crew will be headquartered at L’Auberge Casino & Hotel and the actual show is filmed live from the Baton Rouge River Center, expect to see much of the city highlighted as well, with contestants doing photo shoots and events around town leading up to the big event.
That means a lot of exposure for Baton Rouge—the television viewing audience is around 100 million people—and just as much for home-state participant Brittany Guidry, Miss Louisiana USA 2014. The Houma native and University of Louisiana-Lafayette student seems ready to compete on her home turf.
“I’ll definitelyhave the largest crowds supporting me,” Guidry says. “My family and friends will come down. Since it’s right in my back yard, I’ll be in my comfort zone. It will be exciting but more relaxing.”
Miss USA tapes live from the River Center June 8. missuniverse.com/missusa
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