Miss Subways 2025 will be held on Friday, July 18, at Coney Island’s Sideshows by the Seashore Theater: 1208 Surf Avenue, Brooklyn, NY! We’ll celebrate New York’s favorite mode of transportation with an evening of eclectic performance and civic spirit.
Are YOU Miss Subways 2025? We’re seeking contestants for this year’s event. Complete the application form at the link by 11:59pm on June 25 to be considered!
This year, contestants will compete in THREE CATEGORIES evaluated according to creativity, originality, and skill:
- Costume
- Talent
- Interview
Past talent acts have included a dance by a mad scientist with Doc Ock arms, a pigeon burlesque, an experimental soundscape inspired by the Q, songs about subway proselytizers, and an appearance by the Wicked Witch of the Upper East Side and an immigrant from Oz. We want to see what you’ve got! Embrace the spirit of the city.
More information about the event, including our judges panel and ticket information, coming soon!
ABOUT MISS SUBWAYS
The City Reliquary Miss Subways updates the historic “Miss Subways” beauty contest held in New York City from 1941 to 1976 (and resurrected once by the MTA in 2004) for the 21st century. The event expands on the progressive history of Miss Subways as the first racially integrated beauty competition and invites contestants of all gender identities, body types, and ages 18+ to apply. The first City Reliquary Miss Subways was presented in 2017.
Contestants representing their subway line of choice compete for the prized title of Miss Subways and the transit tiara. A panel of local celebrity judges will evaluate their costumes, talent performances, and answers to subway-themed questions to decide who will represent NYC straphangers as the next Miss Subways!
The winner will join an illustrious lineup of past winners: artist and “first postmenopausal Miss Subways” Lisa Levy (Miss Subways 2017); urban planner Parker MacLure (Miss Subways 2018); musician and director Dylan Mars Greenberg (Miss Subways 2019); marketing pro and performer Harmony Hardcore (Miss Subways 2023); and Brooklyn chanteuse Queerly Femmetastic (Miss Subways 2024).
ABOUT CONEY ISLAND USA
Coney Island USA exists to defend the honor of American popular culture through innovative exhibitions and performances. Presenting and producing exciting new works, our approach is rooted in mass culture and the traditions of P.T. Barnum, dime museums, burlesque, circus sideshows, vaudeville, and Coney Island itself. Preserving and championing a set of uniquely American visual and performing art forms, we seek to create an international forum for cultural preservation and discourse, and where Coney Island represents these impulses, we strive to make it once again a center for live art and entrepreneurial spirit. Learn more at https://www.coneyisland.com/. Follow on Instagram at @coney.island.usa and on Facebook at @coneyislandusa.
