There’s nothing like southern hospitality and Mississippi’s known for it. Three local young women will compete to represent Mississippi’s renowned welcoming spirit in the 64th Mississippi Miss Hospitality Pageant July 26-27 in Hattiesburg.

Wesson’s Miss Hospitality Taylor Beasley, Lincoln County’s Miss Hospitality Ashton Richardson and Lawrence County’s Miss Hospitality Summer Stephens will compete in the state competition.

Taylor Beasley, 18, will be one of the youngest at the pageant.

“Most people think it’ll be a disadvantage, but I’m confident age isn’t a factor and I’m well-prepared and can represent my state well,” said Beasley.

Beasley is a graduate of Wesson Attendance Center and was selected to represent Wesson as Miss Hospitality.

The state pageant will consist of a one-on-one interview, panel interview, formal wear competition, little black dress competition, in which each contestant will present a 20-second commercial about her county, and each contestant must deliver a 90-second speech promoting Mississippi.

Beasley said she has been studying Wesson and Mississippi, and one of her biggest challenges has been trying to find interesting facts to catch the judges’ attention, because all 39 contestants are doing a speech on Mississippi.

“You have to find something that can make you stand out,” she said.

She is most nervous about doing her own hair and makeup. Contestants are not allowed to have any assistance backstage other than a “little sister” assigned to each young woman.

The Wesson resident has danced for 15 years, most of which have been at Nena Smith’s School of Dance, and she is currently an assistant teacher at Smith’s studio.

“Being a teacher, the girls look up to you and follow what you do. As a dancer in general, I would hope that the girls look up to me – not because of the way I dance, but because of the way I act,” said Beasley.

She would like to thank all the businesses and people in Wesson who have supported her as Miss Hospitality and in her preparation for the state pageant.

“I’m always eager to learn new things about our state and I will do my best to share those things with the people who visit here,” she said.

At one time, Wesson was a mill town. Beasley plans to use this piece of history to promote the town.

“It was one of the first to receive electricity – only three years after Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, before places like Chicago and New York,” she said.

Wesson’s Miss Hospitality will begin Copiah-Lincoln Community College in the fall, where she will major in pharmacy and eventually attend the University of Mississippi. Beasley is also a Colette.

Lincoln County’s Miss Hospitality Ashton Richardson is prepared for the multi-interview process, being a communications major at the University of Mississippi.

She was selected based on a photograph and application.

“I talked about how in hardship, families help families,” said Richardson of our state.

For her 20-second commercial on Lincoln County, Richardson plans to talk about historic Whitworth College, downtown Brookhaven and the Victorian District.

The 21-year-old has been preparing for the state competition by doing mock interviews with the Brookhaven-Lincoln County Chamber of Commerce, practicing her speeches and commercial and working out. She is most nervous about the panel interview.

“Just getting my interview skills down,” she said. “We’ve been doing that every week, and it’s made me stay on my toes.”

As Lincoln County’s Miss Hospitality, she has spoken at Mamie Martin’s kindergarten graduation and several civic clubs, and been a greeter for various events.

Richardson plans to work with children in her career as a future speech pathologist, and has had much practice with children in Mexico. She has been to Mexico with First Baptist of Brookhaven three times. She can speak some Spanish, having taken six semesters of the language in school. She has worked in First Baptist’s Vacation Bible School and with a Hispanic church’s VBS in Hazlehurst. She has also been a leader at church camp and Super Summer.

“(Being a leader) teaches you how to get a message across to people and how to love people – to show love,” said Richardson.

The contestant who is selected as Mississippi’s Miss Hospitality will go to every welcome center in Mississippi and present them with a picture.

“You’re the ambassador for Mississippi and you tell people why they should move here and why they should come here,” she said.

Richardson would like thank everyone in the community who has reached out, encouraged her and helped her.

“Brookhaven is very unique in the way that our adults support the young people, and I’m just very thankful to be from Brookhaven,” she said.

Lawrence County’s Miss Hospitality Summer Stephens may not be your typical pageant girl, but the hunter and little league coach is confident she will represent Lawrence County well.

A Lawrence County High School graduate, the New Hebron native is a member of the Color Guard at Copiah-Lincoln Community College. She was selected Lawrence County’s Miss Hospitality through a five-minute interview pageant.

“I like to be involved, and I think being involved really helps with knowing about the state and promoting the state,” said Stephens.

She said she has learned a lot about her town from talking to her elders. She’s been reading everything she can about Mississippi, and coaching an 11- and 12-year-old baseball league has sufficed for exercise Coaching has also taught her about being a leader.

“It gave me confidence to know they were looking up to me and the parents really supported me,” said Stephens.

She is also a renowned promoter of the team. First Bank 11- and 12-year-old little league team is coached by Stephens, Josh Bullock and Gary Bass.

As Lawrence County’s Miss Hospitality, Stephens has participated in ribbon cuttings and many other county events, visited nursing homes and been available for countless other activities.

The 19-year-old is most nervous about her speeches.

“You have to be on exact time,” she said.

Like Beasley, she’s also nervous about doing her own hair and makeup.

“I don’t wear make-up,” she said.

However, she feels Miss Hospitality is not all about the hair and makeup.

She’s been busy writing speeches and honing her interview skills.

“I’m used to being put in situations that I have to come up with something really fast,” said Stephens.

Mississippi Commissioner of Agriculture Cindy Hyde-Smith and interview coach Don Baker have helped her at something she considers a natural talent.

“I like to talk,” she said.

Stephens also enjoys any kind of hunting and is excited about the alligator tag her family obtained this year to be able to hunt the gators.

She is majoring in general studies at Co-Lin and plans to attend Mississippi State University and become a large animal veterinarian.

These three local young women will compete for more than $100,000 in scholarships and prizes.

Mississippi Miss Hospitality has toured the state to promote Mississippi’s tourism and economic development for 64 years. This past year, current Mississippi Miss Hospitality Chandler Llana traveled more than 30,000 miles representing Mississippi as its Goodwill Ambassador.

This year’s competition theme is “Hospitality: Under the Big Top guarantees an authentic and unforgettable circus experience.”

Our local area will be well represented by these three hopefuls.