The Galveston Island Beach Revue features classic cars, vintage vendors, live music, and the crowd-favorite Bathing Beauties contest.
Based on Island events from summer seasons past like the Pageant of Pulchritude and Splash Day, the Galveston Island Beach Revue was resurrected into a contemporary two-day, family-friendly event in 2009.
Date(s): August 11-13, 2023
Galveston’s vintage past meets present-day fun for the Fourteenth Annual Galveston Island Beach Revue. Presented by TGRE – and held at Beach Central, 2102 Seawall Blvd. The annual revue showcases vintage-inspired fun, headlined by the Bathing Beauties contest, next to Galveston’s historic shoreline. Saturday’s events occur from noon to 7 p.m., and standing-room-only tickets are $5. Reserved admission is $20 for a reserved pod for two or $40 for a reserved pod of four. Admission includes access to the classic car show, food and vintage vendors, concessions, and more located throughout Beach Central.
Tickets and more information are available at www.beachrevue.com.
Dubbed the “Pageant of Pulchritude” by C.E. Barfield, the Galveston beauty contest began in the summer of 1920 and from then on marked the kick-off for tourist season each year. By 1928, the event (which had morphed into the “bathing girl revue”) had become so popular, the Island’s population was said to have tripled during the event weekend.
These Island pageants are said to have been the beginning of what we know today as the Miss Universe Pageant. The famed Galveston Bathing Beauties pageants ended in 1932 due in part to the Great Depression and were resurrected in 2009. The event’s location is footsteps away from its original location in the early 1920s.
Beach Revue is a fun way to welcome the summer and celebrate a historical event from a century ago. This one-of-a-kind event brings a colorful story to life along Galveston’s famous seawall...
Dwayne Jones, GHF Executive Director
