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This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
Note that any opinions expressed in legacy Jackson Free Press stories do not reflect a position of the Mississippi Free Press or necessarily of its staff and board members.

Anthony DiFatta

Get Ready, get ready, get ready! The Sweet Potato Queens are back! Grab your tiara, fluff your boa, and grab a stud and make your way down to Fondren this weekend to the Annual Zippity Do Dah Parade! And remeber, be particular!

Parade Weekend Schedule
11 Things About Sweet Potato Queendom
The Unofficial SPQ Glossary
Running Of The Vixens
Boom Time
One for the Guys
Love, Peace, And Itty Bitty Floats

Polish you tiaras, there’s a more coming.

Mississippi native Donna Ladd and partner Todd Stauffer founded the Jackson Free Press in 2002 in the capital city. The heavily awarded local newspaper did many investigations heralded across the state and nation and served as a paper of record due to its diversity, inclusion, in-depth reporting and deep connection to readers and dedication to narrative change in and about Mississippi. In 2022, the nonprofit Mississippi Free Press, founded by Ladd and JFP Associate Publisher Kimberly Griffin in 2020, purchased the journalism assets and archives of the Jackson Free Press. A Google grant through AAN Publishers enabled Newspack's integration of the JFP archives into the Mississippi Free Press website to become part of a more searchable archive of recent Mississippi history and essential journalism.