A slight breeze took the edge off temperatures in the upper 90s for those lined up to see the 42 Miss Mississippi 2012 contestants parade through downtown Monday night.

“I would say we probably had about 500 people at the parade,” said Warren County Deputy Leroy Williams, the lead escort for the parade that kicked off the 55th state pageant in Vicksburg.

Preliminary competition begins at 8 each night Wednesday through Friday and the crowning will be televised Saturday night at 8 on WLBT-TV3.

This year’s parade drew visitors from as far as Tupelo.

“It’s a long way to Vicksburg from Tupelo,” said Myra Guyton, a Tupelo pageant official in Vicksburg to cheer on Megan Rohman, who is representing the city 230 miles from Vicksburg.

Steve Bishop, the president of Southwest Mississippi Community College, brought seven family members to Vicksburg to support Miss Mississippi Southwest Community College Andre’El Brown.

Bishop’s wife, Melanie, said she and her husband also were cheering on their daughter, who is serving as a princess for Brown.

For Tommie Rewis of Florence, the parade is her first chance to rate the contestants and pick a winner.

“We come every year,” she said of herself and her husband, Roy.

Sitting in a folding chair, Tommie Rewis held a pad and pen “to write down the names of the prettiest girls.”

Following the parade, contestants signed autographs at three stores at the Outlets at Vicksburg.

That’s where the young wannabes, tiny girls dressed in tiaras and wearing everything from ruffled taffeta to pink chiffon, scrambled to line up for autographs.

“It’s crazy,” Miss Madison Ariel Cheng said of signing autographs for the first time.

More autograph parties will be from 10 until 11 a.m. Wednesday at George Carr Motors and from 10 until 11:30 a.m. Thursday at downtown stores.