NATCHEZ — Begin your fast now.

The Markets Food & Lifestyle Show will be ready to fill your stomachs and your goodie bags starting Saturday morning.

The annual show — in its 11th year — has gained a reputation as a great place to munch.

But it’s much more than that, Convention Center Director Walter Tipton said.

“It’s a win-win-win-win-win,” Tipton said. “The Markets shows its community support. Vendors can come get all their new products in front of a large crowd. The people that come get free samples. The promoter makes money. The convention center gets all the foot traffic, and it gets exposure.”

The Markets Food & Lifestyle Show is easily the biggest local event of the year at the convention center, Tipton said.

Approximately 40 vendors will set up booths on the convention center floor Friday. Their booths will provide information, goodies, food and more to thousands of Miss-Lou residents Saturday and Sunday.

The doors will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. Customers at any of The Markets who purchase $25 in groceries will receive two free tickets while supplies last.

Tickets will also be sold at the convention center doors for $3.

The show is in its 11th year and continues to be a great success, said Barry Loy, retail operations director for The Markets.

The show was originally started to give back to the community, he said.

“We wanted to show them the new product offerings available every year,” he said.

“We wanted to show what we at The Markets have to offer and let them know what we are and what we stand for.”

Vendors this year will include Blue Bell Creameries, Blue Bunny, Borden Milk, Community Coffee, Frito Lay, Kraft Foods, Sara Lee Food & Beverage, among others.

Though many of the vendors are national food product providers, several local businesses and groups will also be represented, including Great River Honda, Trace City Toyota, Natchez Coca-Cola, Pepsi Cola of Natchez and Crosspoint Church.

In addition to the food, home and health vendors, local youth and other entertainers will be performing throughout the weekend.

Raffles and door prizes throughout the weekend will culminate with a grand prize drawing Sunday.

The grand prize is a year’s worth of groceries from The Markets.

On top of the great exposure the convention center will get this weekend, the food show is one of the easiest for Tipton’s staff to manage, he said.

“We give them 18,000 square feet of blank space and they set up the displays,” he said.