HATTIESBURG — The 66th annual 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.
Representing Greenwood is Ashley Griffin. The 18-year-old is a 2015 Pillow Academy graduate and will attend Delta State University in the fall, where she is also a member of the Delta Belles dance team. She is the daughter of Annette Griffin of Greenwood and Demetrius Griffin of Dallas.
Griffin won the title of Greenwood’s Miss Hospitality in April. This week, she will be competing for the state title and more than $100,000 in scholarships and prizes.
Each Mississippi Miss Hospitality Pageant contestant will be judged on a panel interview, a one-on-one interview, an on-stage question, an evening gown competition, a speech on the state’s tourism and a 20-second commercial for her hometown.
“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 Hattiesburg American reports 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.
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.
