By THOMAS J. LUECK
It may have been the swimsuit competition, in which she performed a catchy little dance for the judges. It may have been her response during the on-stage interview - intended to reflect poise - in which she was asked, "Will it be difficult to face your family and friends if you lose?"
"You are never a loser," responded Jessica Morales, 19, of the Bronx, who was ultimately crowned yesterday as the first "Queen of Coney Island" in 50 years. "There is always time," she added with wide grin. "There is always a way to win."
So it was that attitude, as much as beauty, that carried the day in a modest little pageant just down Stillwell Avenue from the Nathan's Famous restaurant, beneath the long shadow of the abandoned - but freshly painted - Parachute Jump, and at the heart of the Coney Island amusement park.
"This is quintessentially New York," said Frank R. Seddio, a state assemblyman from Canarsie, one of the pageant's seven judges. The event was organized by the Coney Island Chamber of Commerce to resurrect a tradition of beauty contests that were once frequent attractions at the amusement park and along the Coney Island Boardwalk, but that faded into history in the 1950's.
"Atlantic City has the Miss America pageant, so why can't we have a little one here?" Mr. Seddio said.
Marty Markowitz, the Brooklyn borough president and another of the judges, said the pageant was one of several events, including a plan to illuminate the Parachute Jump, intended to lend momentum to a resurgence of Coney Island as an attraction for people from throughout the city and the rest of the world.
"We are going to keep the funkiness of Coney Island that we all love, but bring it into the 21st century," he said. To succeed, Mr. Markowitz said, a beauty pageant should reflect a certain Brooklyn panache.
"Nowhere in America has more character or characters," he said.
Still, by any measure it was a modest beginning. Pageant organizers had announced that 20 young women, ages 18 to 24, would compete for $4,000 in prize money, with the winner receiving $2,500.
Of the eight who showed up, only seven brought the required wardrobe, including a summer evening gown and bathing suit. (The eighth had to be turned back because she brought only a bikini.)
And there were delays, as a restive audience of fewer than 100 people - some of them seeming eager to get to the beach - waited for Mr. Markowitz to arrive, and then as the contestants themselves slowed the pace with lengthy interludes while they changed in a tent next to the stage.
To keep the pace moving, a band called the Screaming Orphans, which had been hired to perform before the contest began, returned to the stage repeatedly.
Miss Morales, who donned a full-length gown of yellow satin for the evening wear competition, curtsied when her name was called out as the winner. The new Queen of Coney Island, a 2004 graduate of the Computer Career Center in Brooklyn, said that she planned to use her prize money to pay off student loans.
"I am ecstatic," she said. "I've never won anything before."
