Emory Baxley is proud to hold the title of Clarke County Miss Hospitality this year.
Although she has never been a fan of participating in pageants, she was inspired to compete to be Miss Hospitality for the county because of the opportunity it provides for her to give back to the community she has always loved.
“I’ve had a few friends in the past do it, and I’ve always seemed interested in doing it,” explained Emory. “I’m not really much of a pageant girl, so that aspect of it kind of threw me. I looked at it more, and I thought about how I’ve always had a strong connection to Clarke County when I was growing up because my mom is from Quitman and my dad grew up in Enterprise. I thought that my connection to Clarke County would help me through the whole process of it, and I really like the aspect of all these girls coming together to represent where they’re from in Mississippi. Mississippi as a whole is really special with hospitality, and I love that I’m getting to represent my county and meet all these other girls from such special towns as well.”
She received a lot of encouragement to participate in the Miss Hospitality program and likes how it is designed a little differently from traditional pageants.
“I never did Distinguished Young Women or anything like that. I was a little sister but ultimately chickened out on participating because of the pageant part,” continued Emory. “A lot of Miss Hospitality is interview based. I go to Southern Miss and have had so many friends at school tell me that they did it for their county and gained so much from it, and they weren’t necessarily pageant girls either. All the friendships you gain and interview experience you get should trump my pageant skills, so that is something I’ll work on this summer.”
Of course, her primary goal is to promote Clarke County and try to bring more people in to have a positive economic impact in the area. She wants to do that by showing everyone just what the county has to offer.
“Clarke County shines in different ways,” proclaimed ‘Emory. “We don’t really have many big businesses, but we have such a welcoming environment and so much history here. We have all these little businesses that people pour their hearts into. We just have that small town charm to us. I’m excited to be able to highlight those small businesses. We also have places like Clarkco, Dunn’s Falls, and all those cute little landmark areas that are special to us.”
This year is unique in that there is more than one title for Miss Hospitality. There is both her title as Clarke County Miss Hospitality and a new title created this year as Quitman Miss Hospitality. She plans to work closely with Quitman Miss Hospitality to promote the county and what it has to offer even more. They have each already started to make appearances to different events since taking on the title in February.
“Quitman Miss Hospitality Ava Parker and I have both attended events at Clarkco,” informed Emory. “She got to go to the reopening, and I got to go to the car show. We have more events that we’ll get to go to at Clarkco. There isn’t much going on in Enterprise and Stonewall, but I’d like to attend anything they have. When I’m out of school, I’m hoping to attend more events. I do try to prioritize going to different events because I’ve already been able to make so many connections from the events I’ve attended already. I’ve had a lot of fun.”
So far, she has loved being able to meet new people.
“My favorite thing has been the community overall,” declared Emory. “When I went to the car show, I met so many people that I had never met before. They knew my grandparents and my family and were so kind to me. People have already offered to let me use their cars for parades and things like that. I’ve already gotten so close to the Clarke County community because of this. Plus, I now have the community of girls I know who are participating as Miss Hospitality. It’s just a strong group of women to connect with that I think will be helpful for me.”
She has also selected a Clarke County Little Miss Hospitality who will represent the county with her at the state competition in July.
“I chose Lucy Weathers to be my Little Miss Hospitality,” stated Emory. “Her parents are Wade Weathers, the Enterprise baseball coach, and Shannon Weathers. She is in first grade.”
This is a new experience for her, and she has some advice for anyone else who may consider participating as Miss Hospitality in the future:
“If you’re considering it, I would go for it. This was a very random thing for me to do, and with the little bit I’ve already been able to do, I’ve had so much fun. I know this is going to grow me so much as a person. Even if you’re just considering it a little bit, I would love to talk to you about it. I know Ava or any of the past Miss Hospitalities would love to give their input. I think that it is something that anyone can enjoy and grow from.”
