The Red Carpet City of the South is sprucing up and preparing to show for pageant season.

City landscape department crews were mowing grass Tuesday near Vicksburg Convention Center where thousands of people will attend the Miss Mississippi pageant next week. Trash was also being picked up and hauled away as part of the pageant prep.

“Every year before the pageant we have our landscaping person Jeff Richardson and the convention center get together and do a walk around and look at things that need extra attention,” Vicksburg Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said.

The extra clean up makes sure visitors see downtown Vicksburg at its best, Flaggs said.

“Routinely the city tries to keep everything in perspective anyway, but we do make an extra effort to make sure the city is in a presentable way,” Flaggs said. “It is a time when we have a lot of extra visitors coming into the city, so that’s what we try to do,”

Vicksburg’s Main Street program is also busy preparing to host contestants from across the state as they compete for the title of Miss Mississippi and a chance to represent the Magnolia State in the Miss America Pageant.

The biggest responsibility for Main Street is hosting the annual Miss Mississippi Parade from the convention center and north on Washington Street.

The parade is set for 7 p.m. Monday, but making it go off without a hitch is not without its difficulties, Main Street director Kim Hopkins said. The organization is still looking for enough convertibles to chauffeur contestants and princesses during the parade, Main Street director Kim Hopkins said.

“We have to make sure we have enough for the contestants and for the princesses too,” Hopkins said. “Nowadays convertibles aren’t all made for the contestants to ride in them. Some of them have to have a special cart on the back of them. They’re not easy to find anymore.”

Cars are already slated to come from all over the state, including several from the Gulf Coast, but Main Street is still seeking more, she said. Anyone who has a convertible that would like to be in the parade can call Main Street at 601-634-4527

Main Street also sponsors an autograph party from 10:30 a.m. to noon June 25, and hopes both events will help showcase all Vicksburg has to offer.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity,” she said.

Pageant week is also busy for the Vicksburg Visitor and Convention Bureau, said director Bill Seratt.

“We’ve got them on all the social media outlets. We will be running advertising for the pageant,” Seratt said. “What we do for Miss Mississippi is get word out about the parade and the autograph parties.”

The extra work is worth it to draw people into Vicksburg, he said.

“We’re all just crazy about the pageant and the image that it brings and the economic impact it has on the city every year,” Seratt said.

Yet, the impact of pageant week is difficult to calculate.

“It’s so hard to tell this time of year because of all the special events and weddings. June and July are always great months,” he said.