Miss Mississippi

Celebrating 85 years of Miss Mississippi and 60 crowning the Magnolia State’s queen in Vicksburg.

- Morgan Hydrick

On June 24, 2017, Anne Elizabeth Buys took the stage in her home city, proudly displaying “Miss Vicksburg” on her sash. She wowed everyone with her skilled ballet performance to “Viva” by Bond and excelled in both the talent and swimsuit portions of the pageant. And at the end of the night, the hometown favorite traded in her city’s name for the title of Miss Mississippi.

For nearly 60 years, Vicksburg has played host to contestants from across the state, and four future Miss Americas have walked across its stage. The pageant began in 1934, but after 24 years of being in other cities like Biloxi and Grenada, it finally took permanent residence in Vicksburg in 1958. At this time, the Miss America Pageant and one of its organizers, Lenora Slaughter, were awarding Miss America franchises to particular cities and civic groups. Johnny Holland, Vicksburg’s mayor and vice-president of the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce (Jaycees), called Slaughter to ask if she would consider giving the Vicksburg Jaycees the Miss Mississippi franchise. A.J. “Buddy” Dees Jr., a former board member of the Miss Mississippi pageant, says Holland saw an opportunity to make Vicksburg the permanent home for the pageant.

“Vicksburg was part of a movement,” Dees says, “and Miss America saw the Jaycees as a handy group.”

Because the Jaycees were already an active service group in the Vicksburg community, Slaughter approved Holland’s request. The weekend of the first pageant, the river city transformed into the “red carpet city” after a group of citizens painted a red carpet along the sidewalk leading to Hotel Vicksburg, where contestants were staying.