[10/03/02]Hopes are high Lili will blow through, especially since a full schedule of weekend events are still planned.

Rebstock, sponsored by the Vicksburg and Warren County Historical Society, will kick off the weekend Friday at 6 p.m. in the Old Court House Museum with the Old Hat String Band, a Mississippi-based band that plays traditional old-time music from the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s.

Harmony, a Mountain View, Ark., group, will follow the Old Hat String Band on Saturday night at 6. Both concerts will be in the museum’s courtroom.

“For the past two years we’ve had to move the events inside because of the rain,” Historian Jeff Giambrone said. “But this is the first year the events have intentionally been scheduled inside the court house.”

The 20th Annual Old Court House Museum Fall Flea Market will get things started at 8 a.m. all around the Old Court House Museum.

“We have no makeup dates for the flea market,” organizer Cason Shaffer said. Flea markets are always “rain or shine.”

About 200 vendors will be on hand offering arts and crafts, collectibles and antiques.

The Fall Pilgrimage will begin Saturday at 9:30 a.m. and will feature different styles of homes.

Tom Pharr, part owner of Anchuca and historian of the Vicksburg Heritage Inc., said most of the stops on the tour are structures listed on the U.S. Department of the Interior’s National Register of Historic Places.

Lenore Barkley, executive director for Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the Pilgrimage may benefit from the rain since it is one of the indoor events scheduled over the weekend.

“We will still have the tours and we hope to still have the visitors,” Barkley said.

The Downtown Fall Festival will continue the festivities beginning Saturday at 10 a.m. in the downtown area.

Events throughout the day include bands performing in Crawford Square, pony rides on the corner of China and Washington streets, a little red train circling the downtown area and other activites.

“We will have to cancel if it rains on Saturday, but we hope for a beautiful day of family fun,” said Rosalie Theobald, the director of Vicksburg Mainstreet.

Warren Central High School has a homecoming parade today, homecoming game Friday night and will host the Red Carpet Invitational marching band competition sponsored by Big Blue Band Booster Club at 1-7 p.m. Saturday at Warren Central Viking Stadium.

Warren Central High School Band Director Alan Arendale said the competition may be moved to Temple Field across from Vicksburg Junior High if the field at Warren Central is too churned up from Friday’s game.

“If it is too wet we’ll have to move to Temple,” Arendale said.