[05/31/01] Tickets for the Miss Mississippi Pageant are on sale, but not for long, the executive director said Wednesday.

“We encourage people to go ahead and get their orders in,” said David Blackledge. “We’re not far off six weeks from today, and it’ll be here.”

Blackledge said the Miss Mississippi office has been receiving general admission orders since last July, and as ticket sales are tallied, “we should be real close to selling out,” he said. “But I certainly don’t want to discourage anyone.”

Last year’s pageant in the Vicksburg Convention Center was sold out, but tickets were available until the week of the pageant, Blackledge said. Ticket sets will be sold until a few days before this year’s contest, he said, and single tickets will be sold closer to the pageant. The sets cover admission to the three preliminaries, which begin July 11, and the the final night, which is July 14.

The Miss Mississippi Pageant, held in Vicksburg since the late 1950s, was an annual sellout in the Vicksburg Auditorium. When it was moved to the larger Vicksburg Convention Center four years ago, 400 additional seats became available, but the total number of tickets 1,700 go quickly to pageant sponsors, contestants’ family members and others who have priority.