Downtown shop owners and Main Street representatives say that work along Washington Street is pinching business, but that they are looking forward to the improvements.

About 40 business owners attended Main Street’s annual meeting Friday night where talk about the work that has torn up two blocks of downtown Washington Street. Bob Ward, the newest member of the Main Street staff, said that when the street renovations are completed sometime this year, Vicksburg will have a downtown to rival any in Mississippi.

“My hope is that by the time we get through with the street, we’ll have several new businesses ready to move in,” Ward said.

Ward, a McComb native, was hired six weeks ago as the economic development coordinator for the Main Street taxing district. His main function is to recruit new businesses for downtown.

“In order to implement the downtown revitalization, it became apparent to us that we needed a full-time salesman and cheerleader for downtown,” said Harry Sharp, chairman of the Main Street board of directors.

Main Street is a downtown promotional district funded by a 5.05-mill assessment on commercial property in the district and local government supplements. This year, the district has been expanded to include an additional 80 properties included in the city’s urban renewal zone. The expanded taxing district is expected to generate an additional $9,131 for Main Street.

From those funds, Main Street pays for walking maps, brochures and advertising for downtown.

“Over the past couple of years we’ve begun to see the results of our work come to fruition,” Sharp said. “This has been the result of a dedicated Main Street board and executive director and we have been fortunate to have a mayor and aldermen who share our vision.”

The improvement to Washington Street, which include new sidewalks; landscaping; new lighting and the return of two-way traffic to downtown, was one of the major goals of Main Street.

It was also one of the first goals set by the new city administration headed by Mayor Laurence Leyens.

Over the last year, Main Street also began getting funding from Warren County under special legislation requested by the board of supervisors and moved to new offices adjacent to the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau on Washington Street.