Miss Hospitality contestants arrive in Hattiesburg

The watchwords seemed to be “be yourself,” as the 66th Miss Hospitality pageant got underway Sunday in Hattiesburg.

Thirty Miss Hospitality contestants arrived in the city for a week of activities leading up to the Mississippi Miss Hospitality pageant Friday and Saturday at the Saenger Theater.

Miss Hospitality Lamar County Shainah Chabert got advice from her friend Kelsey Addison, who was Miss Hospitality Lamar County last year.

“She just told me to be myself — go out there and be myself,” Chabert said. Chabert also got some schooling in the history of Mississippi from her grandfather, Lamar County Supervisor Joe Bounds.

She’ll need that if she is crowned the winner.

“The young lady who will be crowned will be an official goodwill ambassador for the state of Mississippi,” said Kristen Brock, a member of the board of directors for Miss Hospitality. “She will travel across the state and the country promoting tourism and economic development in Mississippi.”

The contestants spent Sunday afternoon checking into their rooms and meeting their roommates at the Century Park dormitory at the University of Southern Mississippi. Then they headed over to the Saenger Theater for an orientation and to attend their first rehearsal.

Southern Miss student and Miss Hospitality Marion County Sarah Hibley, 20, was ready to get started.

“I’m very excited,” she said. “It’s going to be so much fun. I’m ready to make a lot of friends.”

Hibley had some words of advice for herself as the week unfolds.

“Just to be yourself and to have fun whatever happens,” she said. “To be the best you can be and that’s the best way to succeed at anything you do.”

While this is the 66th year for the state’s Miss Hospitality pageant, it’s only the 17th year it’s been held in Hattiesburg.

Miss Hospitality began in 1949 under Gov. Fielding Wright and the Legislature. Since then, the pageant has called the Gulf Coast, Starkville, and now Hattiesburg, home.

Presented by VISITHATTIESBURG, the City of Hattiesburg and the University of Southern Mississippi, the Mississippi Miss Hospitality Pageant offers more than $100,000 in scholarships and prizes to young women from across the state.

Brock said Miss Hospitality will spend a busy year, as she promotes Mississippi’s economic development and tourism industries.

“She attends ribbon cuttings, she gives speeches at state tourism events and she attends the Mississippi State Fair,” she said. “When she goes to New York City, she attends the Mississippi picnic in Central Park, which she hosts with Gov. Phil Bryant. Thousands of people come out for that.”

Current Miss Hospitality, Bonnie Blue Dulaney, 22, of Meridian, said the New York trip was her favorite part of wearing the crown. Her piece of advice for this year’s contestants is not to get too serious.

“To have fun and not focus too much on the competition, because having fun with it will shine through in a way that will represent Mississippi the way that it is,” she said.

Having fun might keep the nerves away when the contestant interviews get underway later this week. Wednesday, a panel of judges will ask each contestant questions on world affairs, state and local politics, information on Mississippi, ambitions and goals, personal interests and questions on family and friends. Each interview will last five minutes.

Thursday will be the one-on-one interview competition. Judges will meet with each contestant for three minutes and ask questions based on a fact sheet the contestant has submitted about herself.

Friday morning, each contestant must present a 90-second original speech about how she would promote the state to a visitor to Mississippi.

Friday evening, there is an evening gown competition and a little black dress competition where the contestants present an original 20-second commercial on the importance of their city or county.

Saturday evening, the Top 10 finalists are announced. They compete in evening gown, little black dress and will answer an onstage question. Then Mississippi’s Miss Hospitality will be crowned.

Chabert said she’d like to represent the state as Miss Hospitality.

“(I want) to show others how great Mississippi is and share our hospitality with them,” she said.

Hibley said she wanted to return what Mississippi had offered her.

“I think that Mississippi has always been my home, and I want to give back to Mississippi everything it has given me during the 20 years of my life,” she said.

Miss Hospitality Week at a glance

• Monday: Press conference, Saenger Theater

• Tuesday: City Tour: Breakfast at Hattiesburg Visitors Center, pottery painting at Main Street Books, visits with children at the ARC, visits with pediatric patients at Forrest General, shopping at Weekender

• Wednesday: Panel Interview Competition includes questions on world affairs, state and local politics, information on the state of Mississippi and more will be asked for 5 minutes.

• Thursday: One-on-one interview competition. Judges will meet with each contestant for 3 minutes. Also, dress rehearsal at Saenger Theater

• Friday: Community Autograph Party at Hattiesburg Zoo, pageant at Saenger Theater

• Saturday: Pageant at Saenger Theater

If you go

• What: Miss Hospitality Pageant

• When: 8-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday

• Where: Saenger Theater

• Tickets: $17-$22 or packages available for both nights. Call Saenger Theater at (601) 584-4888.