Mississippi's State Games in Meridian Has it All: Games, Flames, Passion
by Joe Maxwell
The rains moved east and a soft, evening glow floods Meridian’s downtown Dumont Plaza. Then the competitors emerge like nocturnal beings by the hundreds for Opening Ceremonies—tall, short, young, old. Many dress in their town’s or club’s colors. Wearing Mardi Gras beads or St. Paddy’s Day hats, citizens wave signs from anonymous, tiny towns.
Soccer clubs and baseball teams and archers march through the plaza; in
years past, the event was at the Meridian High School football stadium.
The State Games of Mississippi’s 17th annual Opening Ceremonies is one
of Mississippi’s finest family events, as top amateur athletes celebrate
a chance for gold.
Both adult and children compete, marking their calendar for it, training
and sweating year-long for a dream.
State Games Director April Luke watched as kids from the state’s north, south, east and west borders cheered and laughed to hear their city’s name bellowed over loudspeakers.
On this magical evening, sponsored by AT&T, extroverts wear silly hats;
those more shy participants do their best to crack a smile as all eyes turn toward them. Scores of towns are represented. More than 5,000 athletes compete.
Pascagoula, Union, Saltillo.
Gulfport, Hattiesburg and Jackson.
Vimville, Lucedale and Greenwood.
To patriotic tunes, they queue, in silkscreen T-shirts bragging they are the ones to beat.
Barrel-racers, boxers, martial artists, equestrians, distance runners,
baseball and softball players, soccer players, paddlers, and bowlers.
For some, it is the largest event they’ve ever participated in outside
of their church service. Music blasts through Meridian’s downtown.
Spotlights point the competitors to the stage.
A flyover by a military jet is timed perfectly. “It’s amazing,” says one tiny Choctaw girl, just moments after raising
her hand and taking the Olympic Oath, administered by former U.S.
Olympian and Mississippian, George Wilson.
Community leaders issue greeting as the dark streets speckle with bands
of children, laughing and looking to tomorrow, when they will compete
for the state’s Div. II soccer championships or for medals in an
oft-ignored sport.
The very next day, Evan is shooting at a target from a ridiculous
40-yard range through dense woods.
After several competitive stations, he has not missed a shot. A buzz
rolls through the woods among other archers. It’s Evan’s day in the
sun—his own youth-sports moment, courtesy the State Games.
A sister tandem from Florence—one 21 and one 7—compete in dressage, each
deftly guiding her horse over rails and maneuvers. The girls’ sport was
now center-stage.
“We love it when all these wonderful athletes come each year to
Meridian,” explains tournament promoter, Jena Thompson. “This is their
chance to experience an Olympic-like, festive competition.”
No matter how they finish, all 
will remember seeing two torches crest a
distance hill, drawing closer, carrying two lit torches. Brandon King
(featured on this issue’s cover) and his adultcounterpart, Andrea
Fairchild—winners of the 2007 State Games youth and adult athletes of
the year—are jogging to the stage.
Cheers swell among the 5,000 onlookers. Then, the two light the State
Games flame and shards of white sparks explode into 30-foot columns.
A massive fireworks display follows, momentarily upstaging the flame that burns just beneath a large American flag. And all too soon, the Opening Ceremonies will end. But for thousands of children, the event’s flame will burn for years to come. SS