It’s vacation time, but Nicole Wiggs has been doing a lot of studying this summer about Mississippi and her hometown.
Wiggs serves as Petal’s representative in this year’s Mississippi Miss Hospitality Pageant taking place this week just across the river in Hattiesburg.
The Petal High School graduate is proud to represent the home she’s known since she moved here from Greenville at the age of nine with her family.
The state’s Miss Hospitality serves as a goodwill ambassador across the state and nation. At home, she touts the same for her hometown. Emma Grace McGrew of Booneville is the reigning title holder.
“With Miss Hospitality being the state ambassador, I’ve been studying about the entertainment opportunities, as far as tourism goes, including economic development in the state,” she said, during a break from rehearsal Monday morning at the Saenger Theater.
She’s also been connecting with businesses in Petal, Chamber of Commerce Director Valerie Wilson and attending meetings and luncheon.
“I’ve also been doing a lot of self-reflection about what my motivations are going into this,” she said.
Wiggs feels “super lucky” to live in Petal, but also go to school in Hattiesburg. She thinks having the pageant right here in her own backyard is a great advantage for the Pine Belt. “We have all of these wonderful ladies coming here to see the assets we have, bringing family/friends here to stay, eat and experience entertainment opportunities."
And being a member of the Golden Eagle family, Wiggs believes everybody should come to school at USM. At Southern Miss, she is a member of Delta Gamma Fraternity, where she serves as Song Chair and is a part of the Luckyday Citizenship Scholars and Luckyday Special Events team. Wiggs earned a place on the Dean’s List and plans to obtain a master’s degree in social work.
As part of competition, each contestant is required to present a 20-second commercial on the town or county each represents.
Wiggs’ opening line in her commercial is: “Not too big, not too small, Petal, Miss., has it all!”
“I truly feel that is the best representation of our town,” she said. “It’s not to big, not too small. We have assets such as the community, schools, businesses that make it up and growth. And while not as big as Hattiesburg or other metropolitan areas, it still has the hometown feel to it.”
Other hometown assets she mentions are the city’s parks, a favorite of local residents, who enjoy the opportunity to get out and exercise, and the city’s excellent school district.
Wiggs is super excited to present her Petal speech. “I love Petal and want everyone to know why Petal is so fantastic.” But she’s also pretty pumped about her Mississippi speech.
“I wish we did it onstage, but we only do it for the judges,” she said. “I’ve worked so hard to put that together and am excited for them to hear it.”
During the week, the 31 contestants from across the state have enjoyed a tailgate party in the president’s suite at The Rock on the USM campus, visited Main Street Books where they had the opportunity to paint pottery pieces, volunteered at Edwards Street Mission, and visited Forrest General Hospital where they visited with young patients. They’ve also had one-on-one time with each of the pageant judges.
An autograph party is set for 12:30-2 p.m. Friday, July 20, at the Hattiesburg Zoo.
Contestants have also spent a lot of time in rehearsals preparing for Friday night preliminaries and Saturday night’s naming of the Top 10 on the journey to crowning a new Miss Hospitality. The show gets underway at 8 p.m. both Friday and Saturday nights at the Saenger Theater.
This is the Hub City’s 21st year to host the state pageant, which brings the best and brightest young women to town. The winner will serve as full year as the state official ambassador of economic development and tourism.
For the first time, the competition will include a Little Miss Hospitality component. Each local representative has selected a young girl between the ages of 6 and 10 from her hometown to mentor throughout her reign. Little Misses will appear on state during competition and be invited to official events. Petal’s Little Miss is Lillie Grace Hartfield.
Presented by VisitHattiesburg and the Mississippi Development Authority, in conjunction with the University of Southern Mississippi, the City of Hattiesburg, Hattiesburg Saenger Theater and Forrest General Hospital, the state pageant annually awards more than $100,000 in scholarships and prizes to the top finalists.
Tickets to the competition are available online at HattiesburgSaenger.com or by calling the Saenger Box Office at 601-584-4888. Tickets can also be purchased at the Saenger in advance or at the door.
