Carmela Miars crowned Miss Huntington Beach for 2027
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Carmela Miars is no stranger to the art of the performance.
The Huntington Beach native started dancing when she was just a toddler. At the age of 6, she started regularly participating in musical theatre.
And yet…
“Even I get nervous public speaking,” she said. “It can be nerve-wracking, especially in a pageant setting. That is so, so different, because it’s so, so vulnerable.”
But Miars, 19, said she felt like participating in the Miss Huntington Beach pageant can be similar to theater. In both cases, she found the effort she put in was what she got out of it.
Miars was crowned Miss Huntington Beach for 2027 at the 115th annual Miss Huntington Beach Scholarship Pageant, held Oct. 24 in the theater at the Central Library. The program is presented by the nonprofit Sand Dollars of Huntington Beach.
Cirrus Boyer, a 19-year-old Huntington Beach High graduate who now attends Orange Coast College, is the new Miss Huntington Beach Princess.
Miars also participated in the Miss Huntington Beach program two years ago. This year, the crown was placed on top of her head.
“I honestly did not expect [to win the crown],” she said. “I was ready to clap for someone else. If you look at a video of when I got crowned, I start clapping before it registered in my brain that they said my name. We were all happy for each other … I was so grateful. I’m so blessed to have been a part of this experience, and now I get to go serve the city that has given so much to me. It was really just crazy.”
Miars grew up in Surf City, attending Golden View Elementary School and Dwyer Middle School. She went to Huntington Beach High as a freshman before transferring to Marina High, from which she graduated in 2025.
During her time in high school, Miars was involved with both Huntington Beach Academy for the Performing Arts and Marina Youth Theatre, as well as the Marina Dance Team. She now attends Vanguard University, where she is a liberal studies major and theatre arts minor and plans to earn her teaching credential.
Miars, whose younger brother Cash is a freshman at Marina, has arts education as her platform for Miss Huntington Beach. She said her mother Anna Marie has been an inspiration. Carmela said that Anna Marie Miars was a country singer when she was growing up, and mother and daughter have been able to perform together in productions recently.
Carmela Miars gives back as a volunteer choreographer at two Huntington Beach elementary schools, and also continues to volunteer with Marina Youth Theatre, helping Jamie Huntington with costuming.
“She’s such a great mentor,” Miars said of Huntington. “She was my favorite teacher my senior year of high school, and I just have so much love for her. She actually continues to support me today. She helped me pick out my dress for Miss Huntington Beach. We went out to L.A. together to pick out my dress, and she has just given me so much guidance through the whole experience.”
Miars considers herself a people person. She enjoys meeting a lot of folks while working the front desk at a local gym, and the same will be true as she represents the city at myriad events this holiday season into next year.
She said that part still hasn’t set in.
“Huntington Beach is very proud to be Huntington Beach,” Miars said. “I grew up going to the Fourth of July parade and the Christmas parade, and getting to think, “Oh, I’m going to be a part of that this year. I’m going to be in it, and I’m going to be wearing the crown and the sash.’ It’s like eyes are going to be on me, and I’m like, ‘Woah, I get to represent the love that this city has given me.’ I’m so excited.”
This year, the Miss Huntington Beach pageant also introduced its inaugural Little Miss Huntington Beach class, which six younger girls participated in. Former Miss Huntington Beach Princess Lainie Shield served as the director.
