With the crowning of Miss Mississippi 2009 on Saturday night, one-third of a three-week showcase of the City of Vicksburg has ended.

The Governor’s Cup youth baseball tournament is scheduled to begin July 31 and run for two weekends at Halls Ferry Park. Youth teams, parents and grandparents — thousands of people — from Mississippi and Louisiana will converge on Vicksburg in what is unofficially the end of summer.

The tournament also will showcase the need for a new recreation complex, much talked about through three administrations, but still not a reality.

For what they have to work with, the organizers of the Governor’s Cup do a yeoman’s job. The tournament continually has grown and features 100 or more teams over the two weeks. Schedules are packed from the wee hours of the morning until late into the night.

But with the rise in recreation complexes around the state, Vicksburg’s Halls Ferry Park is quickly becoming outdated. For years city officials have had grandiose plans for a recreation complex superior to all others. Plans were drafted and artists’ renderings produced, but as the latest Governor’s Cup beckons, only a bit of dirt work on a project off of Fisher Ferry Road has begun.

Youth organizations have had glowing reviews of the Governor’s Cup over the years, but with each new complex that opens around the state, the less and less attractive Halls Ferry becomes.

Parking is a nightmare, with spaces almost as coveted as a winning lottery ticket. Concession areas are cramped. Scoreboards work with varying degrees of success. Public address systems that once adorned each field are non-existent.

Halls Ferry Park should remind people of an old-timey baseball park — there is plenty of nostalgia involved, but compared to the newer, more luxurious parks being built, the attraction is less and less.

Artist renderings and grand plans are pretty to look at, but really aren’t worth the paper they are printed on. Think how many more teams would entertain coming to the Governor’s Cup if they knew a modern facility was waiting for them?

City officials have dragged their collective feet for far too long. We’re getting lapped by cities large and small when it comes to recreational opportunities.

This city could be a recreation hub, and we are getting tired of the could be’s.