Mrs. Nevada Pageant must downsize due to pandemic says City of Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Contestants vying to be the next Mrs. Nevada America competed before an empty room at the Ahern Hotel on Sunday after organizers were told they had not complied with Gov. Steve Sisolak’s crowd size mandate.

A spokesperson for the Ahern Hotel told 13 Action News they were served with a cease and desist order and had to ask attendees to leave the event.

“All the guests had to leave, only contestants and crew could stay," says Abingdon Mullin, attendee.

Last week, a Trump campaign event was held at the Ahern and came with some harsh criticism from Gov. Sisolak saying he was “deeply disheartened” and “equally dismayed that the campaign and business defied the State of Nevada emergency directive."

Phase Two in Nevada means public and private gatherings are limited to 50 or fewer people at once, along with required face masks.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police department said the City of Las Vegas Business Licensing went out to the event and the organizers voluntarily complied to downsize the event and no citations were issued.

In a statement posted to Twitter, the city says "earlier in the weekend we attempted to notify the Ahern Hotel that the pageant would violate the governor’s directives, but our licensing officer was escorted off property by hotel security."

Here is the city's full statement:

Amy Tarkanian one of the pageant's judges took to her twitter account as the event was halted to remove the attendees.

13 Action News obtained video when the City of Las Vegas business licensing came into the event to shut it down.

The pageant will be allowed to continue with under 50 people in the room.