The Southern Cultural Heritage Foundation is looking to give away $1,000 to one talented Vicksburg resident.

The foundation will be raising the roof through a talent contest open to all ages in the community.

The purpose of the talent contest is to raise money in a fun way for repairs and replacements to the heritage center’s roof.

“Instead of just doing a capital campaign and raising money to put towards the roof that we would try to do this in a fun, creative way,” executive director Stacey Massey said. “Something for the community.”

Of the five historic buildings on site, one roof is in need or repairs and two need to be replaced.

“The gym needs a new roof and the convent needs a new roof,” Massey said. “ The auditorium is good because we just did that a couple years ago.”

The deadline to enter the Raise the Roof fundraiser is Monday Aug. 17 at 5 p.m. The SCHF is closed on the weekend, but will be open Friday Aug. 14 and Monday Aug. 17 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Individuals can enter for $10 and groups of three or more can enter for $30. Registration forms, rules and permission slips can be found at the SCHF at 1302 Adams Street and online at southernculture.org

“If you’re looking at wanting to get into an artistic field this would be great practice,” Massey said.

Five categories of voice, music, comedy, drama and dance will be on display in the SCHF auditorium during the contest.

“It’s great experience and exposure for the contestant to be able to get up on stage and do their thing,” Massey said.

The contest is split into the age groups of 12 and under, 13-18 and adult.

“We’re trying to spur some talent that’s coming from right here in Vicksburg and showcase it because if you go attend some of these functions we have some awesome dancers and singers,” Massey said. “We really do have some talented kids, and I know we have talented adults too.”

Three winners in each category of the initial preliminary competition will move on to the semi-finals. There will be a $100 cash prize for winners in each category of the semi-final competition. Those winners will advance to the grand finale on Saturday Sept. 12 at 6 p.m. where a single overall winner will receive $1,000 cash.

Massey said this is a time for the talented people of Vicksburg to get experience and exposure.

“Great exposure and experience to be on stage, for one, and then who couldn’t use $1,000 for school or whatever,” Massey said.

She has seen a few people enter the voice and dance contest, and she is looking forward to seeing more people sign up for the comedy and drama portion of the contest.

“Comedy, I thought, would have been just really lots of fun to watch,” Massey said. “But then the music groups, I’m excited about music groups.”

The qualified judges are mostly from outside of Vicksburg with a few exceptions, and there will also be some audience participation in the judging.

“A percentage of the points for the contestant will be on audience participation,” Massey said. “They will get to have a vote in there for a small portion of the judging.”

Dates and times of the preliminary and semi-final competition are tentative to how many contestants will be participating. Tickets to the event are $15 for adults, $5 for kids and children 5 and under are free.

This is the first year the foundation has done a talent contest, and they hope it grows and becomes an annual event. One day they would like to award winners with scholarships or even advanced lessons.

“In the future we hope to even be able to give some scholarships and maybe even classes in different areas at different places,” Massey said.

For more information, call the SCHF at 601-631-2997 or email at info@southernculture.org