The Miss Mississippi Pageant got a $15,000 boost from the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau Thursday, which VCVB Executive Director Bill Seratt said will help keep the pageant televised statewide — and could significantly boost Vicksburg’s image in the process.

“They were not going to televise the pageant this year because of the economy. So (Vicksburg Mayor) Laurence Leyens is trying to help sell these ads locally so the pageant can become a three-hour ‘let’s all go to Vicksburg’ show as well as a pageant,” Seratt told the tourism development board. “I think this is a great value for the TV ads.”

The board unanimously approved the purchase and will receive four 30-second statewide TV commercials on the closing night of the pageant, as well as a mention during opening and closing credits, acknowledgement from the stage during the preliminary show, one appearance by Miss Mississippi at a VCVB event and a host of pageant tickets to the show and ball.

Local governments have bought ads for the TV production in years past, but the VCVB had not previously been solicited for sponsorship from the pageant, Seratt said. The VCVB provided $16,500 in funding for the Miss Mississippi Pageant City Front mural unveiled during last year’s event.

Miss Mississippi Pageant Executive Director David Blackledge and franchise holder John Wayne Jabour presented the board with the proposal, and Jabour said the event annually garners a television audience of 400,000 to 500,000.

“The pageant will certainly have a significant impact on tourism that week,” said Jabour. “This year we almost couldn’t produce the pageant because of the expenses involved, which have gotten crazy. We have cut about one-fourth of the expense out, but we’re not going to lose any of the quality.”

This year’s pageant will be July 15-18 at the Vicksburg Convention Center. The state pageants, official preliminaries to the Miss America crown, have been held in Vicksburg more than 50 years.

Changes to “update” the national pageant have been made in recent years, including moving it from Atlantic City to Las Vegas, in part to attract more interest. Through the changes, the Miss Mississippi Pageant has remained one of the largest preliminaries, usually drawing 40 to 50 contestants from sanctioned local pageants statewide.

Tonight is the deadline to determine if and how Vicksburg will be represented in the state contest. Two local preliminaries are scheduled for Saturday night and remain open to applicants.

Meeting separately Thursday, Warren County supervisors heard two additional names to be considered for a joint city-county appointment to VCVB, both forwarded by Vicksburg officials.

Annette Kirklin, director of the Southern Cultural Heritage Center, and Kristi Pantin, vice president of marketing and procurement for the Aquila Group, were added to a list of candidates under consideration for the volunteer slot.

In January, Warren County supervisors voiced support for local developer Shirley Waring and preservationist Betty Bullard in that order and based on a coin flip at the end of an informal meeting.

However, a letter relating the county’s choices was not sent to city officials, and, in the interim, Kirklin and Pantin have been suggested by Mayor Laurence Leyens.

Supervisors took no action. The opening is the position from which former VCVB chairman Nelda Sampey resigned in November. It ends in November 2010.

Besides Waring and Bullard, Mississippi River Tours co-owner Ann Jones was also on January’s short list.

Kirklin has headed the cultural center at Cherry and Adams streets since December 2007. Pantin’s role in Aquila was part of the group’s two-year efforts to partner with the city on a sports complex. The company pulled out of that initiative, citing the national economic recession and financing issues, but continues as a contract manager of youth sports programs in the city.

A city-county agency created by the Legislature, the VCVB receives a dedicated tourism tax to spend on advertising, promotion and development of the area. Its 11-member panel — five city, five county and the one combined appointee — has stood at 10 since 2006, with a vacancy from Warren County District 2 related to Supervisor William Banks’ decision not to name another nominee after his nominee was rejected by a board majority.

At Thursday’s meeting were David Maggio, Lori Burke, Lamar Roberts, Patty Cappaert, Bill Collins, Renay Jenkins and David Day.

*

Contact Steve Sanoski at ssanoski@vicksburgpost.com.