Two-year-old Anna Holland dances to the band Thunder Creek outside Second Time Around on Washington Street as part of the Hit The Bricks Open House Thursday. Anna was watching her father, Mike Holland, play guitar for the band during the open house.(Jon Giffin The Vicksburg Post)

[3/28/04]Plans for Riverfest 2004 are almost complete, and board members are excited about the festival’s moving back to Washington Street.

Additionally, the Vicksburg Arts and Crafts Show and Sale, on Saturday of the annual Riverfest weekend, will be along Washington Street. The show and sale, which usually encircle the Old Court House Museum, is forced to move because of construction at the historic Cherry Street museum.

It was construction along Washington last year that caused Riverfest 2003 to move from its home of 15 years to the Vicksburg Convention Center, causing a drop in participation.

“People didn’t come out and support it,” Riverfest marketing director Erin Powell said.

She said new energy downtown, brought by construction and new businesses, should make the daytime and nighttime events more enjoyable.

Gates will open at 6 p.m. Friday, April 16, and two stages between China and Crawford streets will be the central spots for the weekend’s live entertainment. Five acts on Friday night, The Chill, West End, Circuit Riders, Meet the Press and the new Riverfest Idol Show, will take the stages.

Food and activity vendors will be along Washington between the two stages, selling everything from crawfish to fried Twinkies and candles to airbrushed T-shirts, vendor chairman Becky Cook said.

“There are so many things going on there’s no reason anyone would want to stay home,” she said.

Saturday activities beginning at 9 a.m., are billed to draw all ages with a carnival, rock climbing and a moon walk for children. In addition, local, university and church musical groups will perform throughout the day.

A new addition will be “Great Cats of the World,” baby tigers from a wildlife refuge. Photographers will be available to pose festival-goers with the felines for a fee, the proceeds of which will go to the refuge.

On Saturday night, six performers will take the North and South stages: Bad Company, Clarence Carter, Easy Eddie & the Party Rockers, U.S., Jason Turner and Compositionz.

The Vicksburg Arts and Crafts Show and Sale is expected to see more than 100 vendors display handmade crafts from Jackson to Grove streets.

The show will begin at 8 a.m. and run until about 4 p.m. Powell thinks it will be beneficial to incorporate Riverfest with the arts and craft show.

“We worked together trying to coordinate and get more traffic flowing up and down the street,” she said.

Riverfest directors will meet Wednesday to complete planning, but they are expecting 3,000 to 5,000 people for the festival and think the return to Washington Street will increase participation.