The winner of the Best Business Float, Stevens Service Center, travels down Washington Street Saturday night during the annual holiday parade. (Meredith Spencer The Vicksburg Post)

[12/5/04] It was beginning to look a lot like Christmas in downtown Vicksburg Saturday night during the annual holiday parade.

A crowd, estimated by Vicksburg Police to number more than 10,000, gathered along Washington Street to watch the first nighttime parade of lighted floats.

When the sun went down at 5:30, nearly 70 parade participants rolled from Belmont to Jackson streets, most complete with holiday music and generators to power their lights.

Float winners were Redwood Elementary School, Best In Show; Beechwood Elementary School, Best Non-Profit Float; Stevens Service Center, Best Business Float; and Hair Envy, Best Original Float.

Before the parade, Dexter Jones, youth pastor at Triumph M.B. Church, said lighting Triumph Ministries’ gingerbread float wasn’t as hard as he thought it would be.

“Once we decided how to fixture the lights, we tied them in. Then with an extension cord and generator, we had light,” he said.

Volunteers of Beechwood Elementary School, whose “Cajun Christmas” float won Best Non-Profit Float in the parade, spent all week decorating and putting last-minute touches on their float.

Float organizers Janet McMaster, Dara Goree and Stacie Schrader said they were proud of their float featuring Santa’s houseboat being pulled by alligators.

“It was the school secretary’s idea at first, then we all added a little to it,” said Schrader.

McMaster said the lights weren’t hard to add to the float.

“It’s going to be a loud parade with all these generators, but I think the lights add a lot to it,” she said.

Further down on the parade route, 11-year-old Daniel Stokes and 12-year-old Christopher Jones were anxiously awaiting Santa’s arrival.

“I want a PlayStation2 for Christmas, and I’m going to yell to Santa when he comes by and hope he hears me,” said Daniel.

“Maybe he’ll just throw one out into the crowd for me,” he said.

Tyra Prentiss, 5, and her sister, Taylor Gray, 3, were excited to see their cousin, who was marching with the Vicksburg Twirlers. But they were also ready for Santa.

“I want a Barbie. I already wrote to him to tell him that,” said Tyra.

In between watching the floats, 6-year-old Brice Bishop and his brother Chance, 4, were reluctantly posing for photos in their Christmas sweaters and reindeer antlers.

“I bought those for them when I was at the dollar store earlier today buying Styrofoam cups for our hot cocoa we brought,” said the boys’ mother, Jill Bishop.

“I thought it was going to be a lot colder than it is, but this is always the start of our Christmas season. We’ll go visit Santa at the mall tomorrow,” she said.

Floats, fire trucks, marching bands and other performing groups rolled by, keeping the crowd entertained for nearly two hours. But the highlight of the parade was the arrival of Santa and his reindeer, the final float in the parade.

“Santa!” yelled 5-year-old Terria Atch.

“Yeah! It’s almost Christmas!” chimed in her friend, 5-year-old Thomea Summers.

At the conclusion of the parade, the crowd gathered for the lighting of the first downtown Christmas tree, which stood tall at nearly 30 feet in a corner of River Stage Plaza.

“This is clearly the longest and most well-attended parade I think we’ve ever had,” said Mayor Laurence Leyens.

“When we talked about getting the community involved, this is exactly what we meant. This has definitely been a success,” he said.

Harry Sharp, president of the Main Street Association, had the honor of turning on the 1,500 lights that adorned the tree

“Jack Frost” and “A White Christmas” were shown as free moonlight movies at Crawford Square following the tree lighting.

Merchants downtown also had a contest among themselves for the best holiday window display. Winners were Frederick’s, first place; Twigs, second place; and Serenity Floral, third place.