Contestants, dancers, production staff, pageant coordinators, stage crew, hostesses, princes and princesses all fill-up the halls of the Vicksburg Convention Center every day during pageant week, and someone has to make sure they are fed.

Margie Heltzel ran around the convention center Tuesday just before noon setting the food up on the table and making sure they had enough sandwiches, chips, cookies, plates and sauces. Jordan Amborn volunteers with Heltzel and she made sure all the Styrofoam cups were full of ice and that the drinks were poured into them.

“Tuesday is the busiest day. It’s dress rehearsal day so everybody, I feel like, is on the edge and ready for performance, plus the kids are here the whole day, so we’ve got two meals with about 250 people,” Heltzel said.

Miss Mississippi Café is in charge of providing around 14 meals throughout pageant week to between 50 and 250 people. The food has been donated either partially or completely by Chik-fil-A, Newk’s Eatery, L.D.’s Kitchen, T’Beaux’s Blues Le Roux, McAlister’s Deli and Merit Health River Region.

“You have to consider that you’re feeding 30 girls who are trying to watch what they’re eating for the week because they’re competing, but at the same time you’re feeding people from out of state that are men working on the crew and the sound and the lights and they need maybe something that’s more substantial,” Heltzel said. “So we try to provide meals that have a variety of options to cater to everyone’s needs.”

This is Amborn’s sixth year helping with food services and Heltzel’s fifth. They evolve a little every year with the addition of the marker board last year that displays the menu, and this year they began wearing black aprons that have Miss Mississippi Café stitched in pink.

Heltzel and Amborn are both Vicksburg natives who enjoy spending pageant week stepping out of their routines and catching up with each other while they work. They grew up with the pageant, and it has been an event they have looked forward to every summer.

This week, Heltzel is also hosting Miss Mississippi Outstanding Teen Grace Post in her home. During the outstanding teen pageant week Heltzel serves as the hostess to the judges while Amborn writes the script.

Heltzel also serves as president of Junior Auxiliary. She was the former president of Hester Flowers Garden Club and is a member at First Baptist Church of Vicksburg.

“Margie’s great at what she does,” Amborn said. “She really is so involved with everything in town but does such a good job with everything.”

Heltzel is planning an event through Junior Auxiliary on Sunday for a child in the Make-a-Wish program.

“We just have so many great resources and so many great people here that when we do work together we can make positive changes in the community,” Heltzel said.

Heltzel really lights up when she talks about volunteer work and giving back. Both of her parents have been involved in the community and she has chosen to follow their lead.

“I really love our community,” Heltzel said. “I love to find ways to give back and make it a better place. I enjoyed growing up here, and I hope to make that same impact on others that people made on me when I was growing up as a child here. It’s home. It’s my hometown, and I just love it.”

After graduating from the University of Mississippi, Heltzel decided to come back to work in her hometown.

She teaches fourth- through sixth-grade gifted education at Vicksburg Intermediate School, which gives her the summer off to volunteer. Currently, she is working on her educational specialist degree in educational leadership at Mississippi College while still teaching, and she’ll use her degree to work in school administration.

“I could go wherever I want, but I choose to live here,” Heltzel said.