By Harlan Braudlume
In the summer of 1983, Dalton was already the Carpet Capital of the World, but that did not mean we did not like a little sand between our toes (figuratively speaking of course). That was the year Conquest Carpet Mills, Inc. decided to spice up its marketing and give the locals something to talk about with The Miss Resaca Beach Swimsuit Contest.
Now, before you start unfolding your map, let us clear something up. Resaca, Georgia, is indeed on the Oostanaula River, but it is not within earshot of seagulls. The “beach” part was borrowed from a popular local swimming hole, and the glamour came courtesy of an above-average budget for sashes and Aqua Net.
The idea was simple. Combine a swimsuit pageant with a bit of carpet company showmanship and see if Dalton could create a crown worth winning. That first year drew a lively crowd. Folks showed up in their Sunday shades and folding chairs, fanning themselves with church bulletins and trying not to stare too obviously. Contestants smiled for the judges, the cameras, and probably the folks who worked at the local carpet mills.
Then came the twist of fate that cemented the pageant in Dalton lore. The winner of the inaugural 1983 contest was none other than Marla Maples. Yes, that Marla Maples, the very same Northwest Georgia girl who would end up on the arm of a New York City businessman with more real estate than Whitfield County has kudzu. Yes, that man. But this is not about him; this is about her.
At the time, she was just a bright-eyed beauty queen with a smile wide enough to light up Hamilton Street, but before long she was making headlines in cities that could not even begin to pronounce the names of the Conasauga or Oostanaula rivers. Suddenly, our little carpet town swimsuit pageant was being mentioned in the same breath as Park Avenue cocktail parties. She even came back in 1991 with her famous boyfriend to crown the Northwest Whitfield homecoming queen, and folks are still telling that story like it happened last Friday night.
For a few years, the Miss Resaca Beach title carried on, part local glamour and part quirky publicity stunt, but it was more than just a beauty contest. Winners were handed a sash and a suitcase and sent out to carpet markets from Atlanta to Las Vegas, signing posters and posing for pictures as Dalton’s answer to the Hawaiian Tropic girls. By the time the contest wound down in the 2000s, more than 400 women had competed and over $140,000 in prize money had been handed out.
Still, for those who were there, it is a story worth retelling when the weather turns warm. It is the tale of how a carpet company dreamed up a swimsuit pageant, how the “beach” was actually 300 miles from the nearest ocean, and how, for one surreal summer, Dalton crowned a queen who would end up on the front page of Time magazine.
And if you would like to toast the memory, you can relive the nostalgia at Dalton Brewing Company by ordering their Miss Resaca Beach Blonde Ale under the iconic image of Marla Maples herself. Because in Dalton, history is not just about generals and battlefields, it is about the time we accidentally made a tabloid headline from the banks of the Oostanaula.
