Miss Mississippi Holly Brand welcomed with homecoming celebration

Miss Mississippi Holly Brand is being welcomed back to Meridian this weekend with a homecoming celebration, the Meridian Star reports.

A parade began downtown at 10 a.m. for the local celebrity at the Meridian Police Department and will end at The MAX on Front Street where a reception will be held at 1 p.m.

Brand won the Miss Mississippi 2021 competition on June 26 at the Vicksburg Convention Center. after several rounds of preliminary competition.

Holly Brand crowned as Miss Mississippi 2021. (Photo by Jeremy Martinez on behalf of Vicksburg Daily News)

“I grew up watching Miss Mississippi and I always wanted to be on the stage.  It was, of course, a dream of mine, but I never thought that it would become a reality,” stated Brand.

Brand graduated summa cum laude last year, earning a degree in communication at University of Alabama.

Brand plans to compete in the Miss America Pageant this December.