The pageant production crew is in town and starting preparations at the Vicksburg Convention Center for the Miss Mississippi pageant next week. The convention center is prepared for the onslaught of guests coming to town in the coming days.

“Bring on the people,” Annette Kirklin, executive director of the convention center, said. “We’re ready.”

Julie Ford, the convention center’s sales and marketing manager said Technical and Operations Coordinator Tim Clark worked over the weekend to get everything ready for the stage and sound production crew to set up their equipment Tuesday.

“We’re ahead of schedule on our end,” Ford said.

The staff’s foremost objective is the building’s security. They estimate 2,200 people entering the building for the pageant.

“Our main priority is this building and everyone’s safety coming in and going out,” Kirklin said. “That’s our main concern because it’s a lot of people coming in and out of this building at many different hours of the day.”

To achieve safety, they work out a plan with the security guards, get people familiar with the building and make sure the seating capacity is up to the fire code.

Even with all the people from across the state coming to town, it’s not the convention center’s most active time of year. Some months the center hosts multiple events at the same time or on a quick turnover, which ends up being harder work than the pageant. With the pageant, they see the most people over a consistent period of time, making it more manageable. The convention center staff is on-hand to put out any fires that arise.

“Something unforeseen might happen, but that’s just part of what we do here,” Kirklin said. “Nothing surprises us anymore. Not with this event necessarily, just every event, you have to be prepared to handle what comes at you.”

The convention center is given a detailed schedule of nearly every minute of every day by the pageant organizers, which is virtually the same from year-to-year. However, having new contestants and a new show every year does change the dynamics of the event.

Kirklan and Ford said by the end of the week they have seen the contestants practice enough to know the choreography themselves. They enjoy watching the ladies talents and getting to know the contestants throughout the week while speculating who will win the title. Ford gives the contestants credit for all the hard work they put into practicing.

“They really do work hard,” Ford said. “They just happen to be pretty with a lot of talent.”

Overall, they say the pageant is a citywide collaboration.

“It’s amazing to me how many people work together to make this event work,” Kirklin said. “It’s not only the people in this building, it’s the people in this city, the cooperation with all the restaurants and the hoteliers. It’s such a huge economic boom to the city.”

Kirklin and Ford would say they would love to have more events in Vicksburg like the pageant and they are ready to host them.

“It’s a specific time for Vicksburg to shine,” Kirklin said.