Mississippi girl and country-music superstar Faith Hill smiles from the cover of the new 2013 Official Mississippi Tour Guide, produced by Leading Edges of Meridian.

    Inside, Hill talks about her upbringing in tiny Star, about a half hour south of Jackson on U.S. 49, and about the concert that changed her life when she was 8 years old. She mentions visiting Donna’s Fruit Stand and Jerry’s Catfish House whenever she gets a chance to get back home. And she offers advice for anyone who wants to experience the best of her home state: “Take the back roads and find the little hardware stores. Stop at the family-owned pharmacies and the smaller gas stations. And explore the little towns with people who will offer you a glass of sweet tea and invite you to stay awhile.”

    Leading Edges has produced the annual guide for the last six years on behalf of the Mississippi Tourism Association (MTA) and Mississippi Development Authority/Tourism Division. Tony Pompelia of Leading Edges says, “We are very excited about the design and layout of the 2013 Official Mississippi Tour Guide and look forward to continuing to help promote tourism in our great state.”

    The magazine-format guide comes in at 176 pages this year. The cover touts not only Hill’s celebration of her Mississippi roots but also highlights articles exploring the full range of Mississippi music, the state’s diverse cuisines and events marking the Civil War Sesquicentennial. Other feature stories focus on agritourism, water adventures, arts and culture, small towns and history. Roundups point travelers to sites across Mississippi that relate to African American heritage, music, the Civil War, the Natchez Trace Parkway, family attractions and farm produce straight from the field. The guide contains comprehensive listings of tourism offices, welcome centers and other traveler resources, plus state parks, campgrounds and RV parks, golf courses and casinos. Every guide includes a pullout Mississippi State Highway Map.

    Smartphone users will find interactive features throughout the guide that are designed to extend and enhance the reading experience when combined with the HD ON ME app created by Leading Edges. Winning photographs from the 2013 Mississippi Photo Contest also appear in this year’s issue.

    The 108-page City Guide consists of detailed information from big cities, tiny towns and every type of municipality in between. Those listings include attractions, golf courses, hotels, motels, bed-and-breakfast inns, RV parks and campgrounds.

    The Leading Edges team handles all copywriting, design, photography, extensive fact checking and proofreading, and the securing of city copy and production services for the printed version as well as the electronic guide.

    The 2013 Official Mississippi Tour Guide will be distributed at the state’s 13 Welcome Centers, convention and visitors bureaus and trade shows. The state’s official travel and tourism website, VisitMississippi.org, will host online versions of the guide, as will MSTourism.com, the website of MTA.

    Leading Edges, located at 2100 Eighth Street in Meridian, is a full-service agency specializing in graphic design, web design, audio and video production, social media management, public relations, new technologies, promotional items and strategic planning services.