Miss Mississippi 2018 week is officially here.

The city of Vicksburg is hosting the pageant for the 61st consecutive year and the week is full of events from the crowning of the Magnolia princesses and princes last night to the crowning of the new Miss Mississippi Saturday following the final night of competition.

Last night’s Magnolia crowning marked the official beginning of the week, but the activity ratcheted up early this morning when contestants checked in and began moving into the Vicksburg Convention Center.

Each of the 49 contestants is provided with a small table and mirror and about a foot’s worth of space on one of the hanging racks to store the outfits, shoes and makeup they will need for the week.

After move in, the girls quickly got to work with the first of a week’s worth of rehearsals to prepare for the show that will be performed Wednesday through Saturday nights.

Monday morning, the competition officially begins as contestants in Group A have their private interviews with the judges. The contestants in Group B will have their interviews Tuesday morning and Group C’s interviews will be Wednesday morning. There is a no set series of questions for the interviews, but topics typically center on current events and hot button topics in the news.

The first public event for the contestants will take place Monday evening with the annual Miss Mississippi Parade in downtown Vicksburg. The parade will start at 7 p.m. at the intersection of Washington and Veto streets and travel along Washington Street to the intersection with Mulberry Street.

Immediately following the parade, the contestants will host an autograph party at the Outlets of Vicksburg. The event is tentatively scheduled to go from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Tuesday will be full of rehearsals and judges’ interviews with no public events planned for the day.

Wednesday, contestants in Group B will be at George Carr at 10 a.m. for an autograph party, the last public event before the competition starts Wednesday night.

The first preliminary will start at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Vicksburg Convention Center. That evening, contestants in Group A will perform their talents, contestants in Group B will compete in swimsuit and contestants in Group C will compete in eveningwear and on-stage question.

Thursday morning, the contestants in Groups A and C will host an autograph party throughout downtown Vicksburg with different contestants present at merchants along Washington Street. The autograph party will start at 10:30 a.m. and end at noon to enable all 49 contestants to attend lunch with the Vicksburg Rotary Club.

The second preliminary will start at 7 p.m. that evening. On night two, contestants in Group A will compete in eveningwear and on-stage question, contestants in Group B will perform their talents and contestants in Group C will compete in swimsuit.

There are no public events scheduled for Friday with rehearsals taking up most of the day before the third night of preliminaries starts at 7 p.m. Contestants in Group A will compete in swimsuit, contestants in Group B compete in eveningwear and on-stage question and contestants in Group C will perform their talents.

The competition will conclude Saturday evening with the finale of the Miss Mississippi Pageant. Unlike the first three nights, Saturday’s competition will start at 8 p.m. and be broadcast live on TV. The Top 10 will be announced at the beginning of the show and they will each recompete in the three phases of competition before Miss Mississippi 2018 is crowned shortly before 10 p.m.