Once again, thousands of people crowded downtown Vicksburg on the first Saturday of December to kick off the Christmas season.

And despite temperatures nearly 25 degrees warmer than last year, snow managed to fill the sky for a second year in a row. Making it artificially snow again was Robert Ware, owner of the Ware House, 1412 Washington St. About 50 children and adults watched and chased the snowflakes blown from a machine atop Ware’s building, just after Santa rolled through on his float to end the fourth annual Vicksburg Downtown Christmas Parade of Lights on Washington Street.

Ware, the grand marshal of this year’s parade, said his reason for incorporating the snow was to add a little excitement for kids and adults alike.

“All of this is a little bit of extra work, but when you see the kids’ faces, as well as their parents’, it makes you realize it was all worth it,” Ware said.

One of the many kids enjoying the snow was 5-year-old Dezmen Davis.

“This is about the only time he ever gets to play in the snow,” Kristie Davis said of her son, who also noted that his favorite part of the parade was the horses.

Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace, who was one of several elected officials in the parade, estimated Saturday’s crowd at “several thousand,” describing the attendees as “shoulder-to-shoulder in many areas” along the eight-block parade stretched between Belmont and Jackson streets.

Among the packed crowd were Gail Wells and Nona Keen, watching the parade with their families.

“The parade is always a great way to begin the Christmas season, and it seems to get better each year,” said Wells, who has attended Vicksburg’s Christmas parades for the last 25 years and also participated in them as a young girl, she said. “There’s just so much spirit and enthusiasm. It gets you excited about the holidays.”

Keen, who mentioned she had arrived downtown about 1 1/2 hourrs before the 5 p.m. parade to get a good seat, said she, too, enjoyed the festive spirit, but also loved Mother Nature’s contribution to the event. During the 90-minute the 62 floats and marching groups took to pass, temperatures were recorded at nearly 70 degrees, quite comfortable when compared to last year’s temperatures in the mid-40s, Keen said.

“You just couldn’t ask for better parade weather.”

The theme for this year’s parade was “Jingle All The Way,” and in the end, Beechwood Elementary’s “Grease”-themed float took Best in Show. Best Business Float went to Danny Hearn Trucking; South Park Elementary claimed the prize for Best Non-Profit/Civic Club Float, and Most Original Float was awarded to Trustmark Bank.

“The floats were great this year,” said Jennifer Harper, who was judging the parade’s floats for her first time. “Everyone put forth such great effort, which made the competition stiff. We had an awfully hard time choosing winners.”

Also up for grabs was the top-prize in the downtown business window-decorating contest. Taking first place in the competition was Cinnamon Tree, while Crown to Heel and Art and Soul of the South came in second and third, respectively.