Jackson Jambalaya

Are the Sweet Potato Queens still a thing? Their website hasn't been updated since this time last year and it looks like the festival is continuing right along without it.

Amazing how far one woman got by stuffing balloons in her bra.

What does Newly Projected Expenses even mean?

This is a loss for Batson

The whole thing was rather confusing: too many names, and conflicting messages. The whole thing was going in too many directions at once (which is typical of the minds of a great many women in Mississippi).

Why not just call it 'The Sweet Potato Queen Parade'? ...and 'The Sweet Potato Queen Weekend'? And why do we have "The Renaissance at Colony Park"? What the hell is "Colony Park"? (while I'm at it). And why do we have an airport with a name that's longer than some of its runways?

Insurance or security?

When they left Hal's parade they first announced they were relocating to Ridgeland. They later changed to Fondern. I wonder, is Ridgeland is still an option?

A fad that has run its course.

I've never met Jill Connor Brown. That said, I also never understood the cult of personality that built up around her. A decade or so ago, I somehow stumbled into Hal & Mal's during some Sweet Potato Queen soiree. I've never seen such a collection of post-mmenopausal hausfraus and Conner Brown wannabes. Frankly, my theory is the death knell was sounded when they let Donner Kay and her ilk into the posse.

I never got why some people are so outraged by the mere existence of the Sweet Potato Queens. Ms. Browne created a group of friends who got together every year and had fun. They created many memories for themselves and helped build up the St. Paddy's Day Parade. Oh, I forgot, this is Mississippi, home of the Stick in the Muds who think you can only have fun when you are in your 20's and that is it. She also managed to sell several books and create a brand. Horrors.

Jackson suffers with fewer events, regardless of one's opinion of the organizers.

when the st paddy's day parade ends....is that when folks will realize Jackson as we knew it expired?

Well, what ever are the out-o-town housewives to do for fun this year? IMO, Queen Jill has done a marvelous job of creating a brand. I do hate that they ever split with the original parade.
And BTW,12:38, you must be an easily confused idiot.

So she had an idea, created a brand, sold a ton of books and made a fortune -- isn't this the American dream?? If you don't like her and her "followers," don't attend her events and don't buy her books. I'm not particularly a fan, but I appreciate the hustle she has shown to make her idea work. So quit being so jealous and come up with your own idea!

Apparently the City of Jackson presented them with a gi-normous bill for parade security which had to be paid up front. ZDD couldn't make 2+2=5, so there you go. More excellent service from the folks who gave you streets that look like goat trails.

So will the SPQ's rejoin the St Paddy's Day Parade ?

Those who remember when Malcolm White published the "Do Wah Diddy" magazine back in the 70s will also remember that the highlight of each issue was the "Betty Fuller" column written by Jill Connor, later Jill Connor Browne. You could tell then that JCB was one of the funniest people in all the land. She deserved much wider circulation and she got it.

I hope that the Queens will reunite with Hal's parade. Long may they reign.

Well, Hal (or is it Mal) still has his green-drunken parade to stoke his ego. What will Konnor-Browne do now as her contribution to society? Will she do table-dances at Dragos or maybe set up a cartwheel-contest at Kathryn's Steak House? Will the Metro survive without her? Stay tooned!

The Ladies Temperance Union was always offended by those large fake cantaloupes anyway.

Hate this for Jackson, and for the folks that enjoyed it. I was never fascinated, although a friend of several of the SPQs. I figure the demise came from a hughly bill from the City for security, along with the fact that the SPQs themselves have aged out. Unlike many organizations or fads, you can't turn this one over to the younger generation - that would defeat the entire concept.

It was quite a concept, I was there for the first SPDP at Geeorge St. My boyfriend, dog and I hitched a ride w/ JCB and friends. RIP queens!

Maybe they all started dying off. Actually they got too big for their britches. Literally.

Mal's St. Paddy's Parade is the original and one of the best in the southeast. Just enjoy it. or don't.

Face it guys they never came close to the St. Paddy Day Parade as far as attendance or economic impact, it is hard for JPD to justify the overtime without compensation.

I was flying in from Houston years ago on the weekend of her parade. The plane was filled with wannabes having a raucous time. This was good business for Jackistan. Like all good things, it has to come to an end.

And never forget her words of wisdom on how to get a man to do anything.

Good riddance to a bunch of middle aged drunk women with a proclivity toward obscene language.

Jill C Brown got too big for her pants. This is the result. It's over

KF when you started this blog did you think it would become a magnetic for people who literally hate everything and everybody?

The demise seems to be at the foot of Jackson's so called leadership. Feels like it ought to get paid outrageous dollars for things that benefit the city. All the while the Mayor is promoting people spending money in the city so he can pay the city's bills (and they can help pay the settlements on his stripper lawsuits) he makes idiotic moves like this to drive out the things that attract that business.

The original demise of the SPQ's started when they decided that they were the draw of Hal's St. Paddy's parade ----- and found out that they weren't. To try to prove their point they moved to Fondren, with some success. But not nearly enough to satisfy the city fathers coffers.

Maybe the answer would be if the SPQ's decided to dress in body paint for a party after the parade with the Mayor and his staff. He might negotiate down the cost of security.

Burke, it was the "DIDDY Wah Diddy," was it not? Well, Diddy or Do, it ran its course, as has the overblown silliness of this "brand." Never having been much of a fan, my only thought was how the dickens they were able to trademark their "Zippedy Doo Dah" thang in the first place. Wasn't it originally a song title in some Disney movie? Well, whatever, the noisy parade has left town, and believe me, the BB hospital has plenty of other fundraising sources.

First, The Cherokee....now this. Whatever will folks do for a drunken good time now? It's no fun getting drunk and walking around Renaissance. Too many mall-cops, crazed men with chain saws and shoot-em-up types from Jacktown. Ima go check out Gluckstadt.

It was Diddy Wah Diddy, a reference to this song which they used to open their short lived radio show of the same name.

Do Wah Diddy is an entirely different song.

And I understand why Jackson upped the cost. Hundreds of 250+ lb women marching along the road has to take a toll on already damaged streets!

Oh, good grief!
" Flappers" and " It" girls and " the flower girls" all got older.
It becomes a challenge to parade, dance and throw beads with arthritic limbs and arm muscles that can slap silly the person next to you! It's also hard to hold up that which gravity lowers much less position the balloons!
We are now teaching our grandchildren to dance through life and find the joy in life while they still have the energy! It's the laughter and the joy and the love and the hope for more that makes life worth living and that are God's greatest gifts!
Each generation has to define their times.
I pitied the rest of you who were so self conscious, insecure and fearful of silliness that you got old before your years! You conformed lest those who are always looking to criticize others instead of searching their own flaws found a flaw in you. Those kind of people found flaws anyway, didn't they?
I wish your glasses weren't half empty. I even wish your glasses weren't half full. I wish your " cups" would have " runneth over"!

ROFLMAO JJ's deluded anonymous Granny lecturer pities readers she does not know.

The Paddy parade just needs to get them back at the front of the parade and limit the number of queens

frankly I liked them as an "opening act" before the floats, I haven't been back since the year after they left and the parade seemed to last 20 mins.

White and Brown need to mend fences and bring back the parade like it was.

Good riddance. Bunch of weirdo narcissists.

"The Zippity Doo Da parade is no more."
"'Due to newly projected expenses not incurred in the past, important logistical decisions could not be made in a timely fashion, resulting in the cancellation of the annual nighttime parade.'"

It is unclear to me that the cancellation is permanent - any indication in any media that this is NOT just for this year and for forthcoming years, as well?

Never mind - I see on her FB post that she says this is not permanent and that, "It was about money but that got worked out--just not in time. No problem--we will party on like the Queens we are!"
https://www.facebook.com/jillconnerbrowne/

So.....all of this was just a ploy to garner attention for this bunch of loony-bin escapees? Great news for the arts and entertainment crowd.

Now, along with wedding cakes and right to marry, hopefully we can add a men's group. Name to be chosen in a contest. Will require nipple rings and velvet slippers. We can't let these women have all the fun!

Jackson knows how to PARTAY-DOWN!

Megadittos to 8:43 pm. It appears that every troll who ever posted on this blog has been reinvigorated with the hatred that springs from their own miserable lack of something resembling a normal, happy life. They can't stand it when others are happily letting the good times roll. It's even worse when the happy people are women, and much worse when the instigator of all this joy is a woman who has a national following. I know that I'm rising to the bait, but I just have to say fuck you, shitheads! You won't go to hell, you won't go to heaven -- creeps like you will just be thrown into the void. Hell is too good for you. (BTW, where is the guy who always says "Jackson is lost"?) Bad news, you goat babies, Jill and her rowdy crew will be back next year.

I'm almost positive that JCB wrote the above comment and if she did, I say "Bravo!" People please quit being haters. Life is too short for all this negativity. It's a damn parade. Instead of asking Jill to get over herself maybe some of you should try to follow your own advice. 😘

8:00 am You know people by their words like " weirdo narcissists", " 250+ lbs women... damaging streets", " too big for her britches"," streets that look like goat trails", " chain saws and shoot 'em up types " and " death knell".
Those words just screams ornery, unhappy people who delight in criticizing others and exaggerating common problems and ordinary behavior like people dressing up and parading into a monumental crisis or dire prediction ala Chicken Little.
They make Gladys Kravitz look like a happy camper.
KF nailed it...stick in the muds.
Yes, this granny lectures and pities because it makes me very sad to see even the Gladys Kravitzes of the world be so miserable and stoop so low.

I never understood the whole Sweet Potato Queen/ JCB idolizations until I read these comments. I don't know where you people were raised. Happiness is a choice.

Hurt people hurt people, I guess. My favorite "a passing fad". bwahahaaaaa. Did you know that some of the out of state people and their families save their money for a whole year and use their vacation time just to be a part of this parade?

Anybody who saves money for a year and takes all his/her vacation time to come to a parade in Jackson, Mississippi is a good example of someone who needs to hook up with the Department of Mental Health in a state that has one.

We used to save up and go once a year to one of the Casa Grande Motor Hotels in Biloxi that had a kitchenette. And we could swim in the Gulf and eat at Friendship House if we really saved well. Mom had real tits and dad wore a tie all week. The boys got new swimming suits and the girls could buy one item at the souvenir shop.

So, now it's green beer, tits the size of bowling balls, glittered-slippers, nipple rings, rouge for the men, feasting on pulled-pork without forks and rainbow-condoms. A modern-day Roman orgy.

Mom had real tits and dad wore a tie all week.

+1,000,000

If you ask ME, anybody who'd save all year, just to go to the Casa Grande Motor Hotels in Biloxi, should have been committed. ...at least anyone who'd do that more than once. BILOXI? How far back are we talking about, that Biloxi was nice? 1940s? Were the roads to Pensacola not yet completed? Were the giant pipes pumping sewage into the water not yet built?