Work will continue throughout this month on a garden parking lot on Mulberry Street that will &#8220mimic” landscaping around the Vicksburg Convention Center, said Vicksburg Mayor Laurence Leyens.

The lot is part of a larger project that will bring an enlarged parking area for the 25,000-square-foot convention center.

The parking will be east of the convention center and west of Mississippi Hardware Co. It was purchased by the city from Don Miller in 2001 or 2002, said South Ward Alderman Sid Beauman. A building next to it was also purchased and has been used for storing items for the convention center.

Funding for this section came from money left in this year’s budget, Leyens said.

&#8220A plan was drawn about three or four years ago to put a major parking lot through that piece of property,” Beauman said. &#8220It was going to be $2 million, and we were not going to do that.”

City officials decided to do work &#8220a little at a time,” he said, with the city’s Street Department doing the work.

Leyens said this section, which will cost $20,000, will be the most difficult because fences and gravel had to be removed. Future sections will be financed with money from next year’s budget.

The 10-year-old Vicksburg Convention Center on Mulberry Street was built by the City of Vicksburg with $12 million in bonds. On March 13, the city made the last payment of $1,274,500 on the center.