If you spend enough time downtown, you start to realize something about Vicksburg: the town has a way of pulling people back. No matter how far they go, some invisible tether always seems to lead home.
Keione Mellon is one of those people.
“I wasn’t born here,” he says, “but I pretty much grew up here.” His roots in Vicksburg run deep. His mother, Stacy Rollison, serves as Chief of Investigations for the Warren County Sheriff’s Department, and much of his family has called Vicksburg home for generations.
While others stayed put, Keione left shortly after high school, heading first to the Mississippi Gulf Coast, then to Southern Miss, and eventually into the military. That pattern of leaving and coming back has defined much of his adult life.
“I’ll leave for career or military, get homesick, come home for a year, then leave again,” he explains. Most recently, that return brought him back to Vicksburg in November of 2024.
Unlike the restless ambition many people feel in their twenties and thirties, Keione speaks with an easy contentment about where he is now.
“I’ve gotten to do a lot of things most people don’t get to do,” he says. Through the Air National Guard, he’s traveled extensively, worked in the private sector, and even spent time working at the Pentagon. “It’s crazy to me, because I remember waiting tables in college and still being content back then.”
Today, his goals are simpler.
“I don’t really have big career aspirations anymore,” he says. “I just want something that makes enough income so I can do the things I want to do.” One of those things, surprisingly to some, is bartending — a job he discovered he loved while working at a craft cocktail bar in Hattiesburg during college. When the government shutdown brought him back to Vicksburg with unexpected free time, he returned to bartending once again.
But when Keione talks about the future, the conversation inevitably circles back to Vicksburg.
“I think Vicksburg could use another late-night bar,” he says thoughtfully. Not something wrapped up in drama or politics, but a place that stays open late, with pool tables, dart boards, and live music. “Key City does great things with live music. The Biscuit does great things too. I just think there’s room for more.” He even imagines an old warehouse transformed into a pool hall. He sees the idea as something that would give locals another place to gather.
That sense of gathering matters deeply to him. Keione believes Vicksburg’s strength lies in its people and its everyday interactions, even if social media doesn’t always reflect that reality.
He points out that while online spaces often amplify complaints, real life in Vicksburg tells a different story. To Keione, Vicksburg’s story is one of neighbors supporting local restaurants, celebrating high school achievements, and showing up for community events. He’s quick to note that every place has its flaws, but he doesn’t believe those blemishes define the town.
“There are things here you won’t get somewhere else,” he says. Having lived in larger cities, Keione knows firsthand how anonymous life can feel. “In a big city, you break down on the side of the road and you’re at the mercy of a towing company. Here, someone is more likely to stop and ask if you need help.”
It’s the familiarity of seeing people you know at the grocery store, recognizing the bartender behind the bar, running into old classmates downtown — that gives Vicksburg its unique character.
“People say they hate that small-town feeling,” he says, “but it gets lonely when it’s a sea of faces you don’t know.”
Looking ahead ten years, Keione doesn’t necessarily see himself living in Vicksburg full-time. Phoenix, the D.C. area, or Dallas may be next chapters. Still, he’s certain of one thing: Vicksburg will always be home.
“I’ll always come back,” he says. “And I hope when I do, it’s even better for the younger generation with more to do, more opportunities, more reasons to stay.”
For Keione, Vicksburg isn’t just a place on a map. It’s the familiar streets, the shared history, and the everyday kindness that makes a town feel like home, no matter how far life takes you away from it.
January 10, 2026
