Friday’s public inauguration of Vicksburg officials is set to coincide with the start of Independence Day celebrations, providing the area with a full slate of weekend activities.

Scroll down for list of weekend activities

The public swearing-in of the city board — Paul Winfield as mayor and Michael Mayfield and Sid Beauman as aldermen — will be at 6 on Friday at the Vicksburg Convention Center, 1600 Mulberry St.

Mayfield, Beauman and Winfield, who was sworn in privately Thursday by Chancellor Vicki Roach Barnes, also will be the focus of an hour-long interfaith public prayer service slated for 8 Friday morning at Spring Hill Missionary Baptist Church, 815 Mission 66.

The newly installed board’s oaths will hardly be recited by 7 p.m., when The Brett Family of Branson, Mo., is scheduled to begin a musical variety show at First Baptist Church, 1607 Cherry St.  The performance by the Bretts, a singing and dancing ensemble of five, is being sponsored by Four Seasons of the Arts, a local cultural organization. Admission is free, but donations will be accepted.

Also on Friday, historian Gordon Cotton will sign copies of his new book, “Like a Hideous Nightmare: Vicksburg Women Remember the Horrors of the Civil War” from 10 a.m. to noon at the Cinnamon Tree, 1322 Washington St., and from 2 to 5 p.m. at Peterson’s Art and Antiques, 1400 Washington St. Cotton also will sign books from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday at the Old Court House Museum, 1008 Cherry St., where he spent three decades as curator.

Vicksburg’s Civil War surrender — which was famously completed on July 4, 1863 — will also be recalled through several events staged by the Vicksburg National Military Park.

Throughout the weekend, re-enactors will gather at the fortifications near the park’s main entrance and visitor center to portray the Confederate forces who tried to defend the city from Gen. Ulysses Grant’s siege.  Rangers and volunteers, meanwhile, will present and demonstrate Civil War Union artillery from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Battery De Golyer, the first stop on the park’s tour road.

Outside park boundaries, the Crawford Street siege headquarters of Confederate Gen. John C. Pemberton will be open for tours from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Park rangers will lead walking tours of the neighborhood at 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. on each of those days.

At Mississippi state parks and lakes, no fishing license will be required of anglers on Saturday, though other park and lake fees will remain in force, according to a release from the state Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks.  “This is a great weekend for families to get outside and enjoy our natural resources and some of the activities going on at our state parks and lakes,” said Sam Polles, the department’s executive director.

The city’s music scene is also preparing for amped-up Independence Day interest, with the Vicksburg Blues Society promoting performances by a series of blues, jazz and rhythm-and-blues performers at city restaurants and bars.  United by the theme “Red, White & Blues,” the shows include Thursday night performances at the Beechwood restaurant and Highway 61 Coffeehouse, as well as Friday and Saturday night concerts at Borrello’s and The Biscuit Company.

Vicksburg’s official Independence Day festivities will conclude on Saturday evening with a concert and fireworks show downtown near the old Levee Street train depot. The Krackerjacks, a rock band from Greenville, will begin their set on a stage in front of the depot at 7:30 p.m.  Fireworks will follow at dusk, around 9 p.m.

Lawn chairs and blankets will be allowed at the event, and The Art Park at Catfish Row, a nearby area geared toward children, will also be open on Saturday night.

The Vicksburg Farmers’ Market will keep its usual hours of 8-11 a.m. Saturday but move north of the Levee Street depot to accommodate preparations for the concert.

“Rather than set up where we normally set up, we’re going to set up where people normally park,” said Mary Beth Lasseter, one of the market’s volunteer coordinators.  Traffic should use Jackson Street to reach the market this Saturday, Lasseter said.  The market will return to its old location next Saturday, July 11, she said.

The holiday has also prompted adjustments to garbage service schedules in the county, where residents whose trash is normally picked up by Waste Management on Saturdays won’t be visited by company trucks until their next regularly scheduled collection day.  Waste Management also picks up trash in the city, but only on weekdays.

Elsewhere on Saturday, organizers say they expect about 700 bikers to motor through the city as part of Roosters Poker Run, an event sponsored by Vicksburg’s Riverwalk Casino and Roosters Events Center in Delhi and billed as a benefit for Greenwood cancer patient Karen Walker. Registration for the run is $15 per bike, plus $10 for each passenger in addition to the motorcyclist, and will be open until 9 a.m. Saturday, Roosters marketing director Ted Degennaro said.  

According to a schedule announced by Degennaro, bikers will line up at the Delhi events center at 9, cross the I-20 bridge into Vicksburg at 9:15, and pick up six poker cards at Cracker Barrel, Vicksburg Factory Outlets, the Courtyard by Marriott hotel and Riverwalk before returning to Roosters for a seventh card.

Weekend stays at the Riverwalk Casino Hotel will be handed out for best and worst hands.

The poker run prize giveaway is part of a weekend-long music festival and campout at Roosters. The cost of attending Saturday’s events is $20, and a weekend pass may be purchased for $40.

In Tallulah, Saturday’s events will include programming commemorating Madame C.J. Walker, a native of Delta and the nation’s first self-made female millionaire. The Hermione Museum, 315 N. Mulberry St., which contains exhibits on Walker and Madison Parish history, will be open from 1 until 4 p.m., and the adjacent Madame C.J. Walker pavilion will host a program on Walker during the same hours, museum spokesman Codie Ray said.  Admission to the museum and the program is free.

After beginning life as the daughter of former Madison Parish slaves, Walker earned her fortune in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by inventing and manufacturing products to help black women maintain and grow their hair.

Tallulah’s Independence Day celebrations won’t end on July 4 — Richard Fritz Klein, an Abraham Lincoln impersonator, will deliver a speech from the steps of the Hermione Museum at 2 p.m. on July 9 and portray the nation’s 16th president as part of a dinner presentation scheduled for 7 p.m. at Tallulah Community Center, located at Beach and Neal streets.  Tickets to the dinner are $20, must be purchased by Saturday and can be bought by calling 318-574-0082 during business hours and 318-341-1947 after hours.

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Contact Ben Bryant at bbryant@vicksburgpost.com

Friday

8-9 a.m. — A public interfaith prayer service for the new city administration will be held at Spring Hill Missionary Baptist Church, 815 Mission 66.

9 a.m.-4 p.m. — Rangers and volunteers will pre-sent and demonstrate Union Civil War artillery at Battery De Golyer, Stop No. 1 on the Vicksburg National Military Park’s tour road.  Visitors can enter the park at 3201 Clay St.  The admission fee is $8.

9 a.m.-4 p.m .— Pemberton Headquarters on Crawford Street will be open for public tours.

10 a.m.-noon — Local historian Gordon Cotton will sign copies of his latest book, “Like a Hideous Nightmare: Vicksburg Women Remember the Horrors of the Civil War” at the Cinnamon Tree, 1322 Washington St.  The book can be purchased for $20 at the Cinnamon Tree.

2-5 p.m. — Cotton will sign copies of “Like a Hideous Nightmare” at Peterson’s Art and Antiques, 1400 Washington St.  The book can be purchased for $20 at Peterson’s.

6 p.m. — City officials Paul Winfield, Michael Mayfield and Sid Beauman will be inaugurated at the Vicksburg Convention Center, 1600 Mulberry St.  The swearing-in ceremony is free and open to the public.

7 p.m. — The Brett Family of Branson, Mo., will put on a musical variety show at First Baptist Church, 1607 Cherry St.  Donations will be accepted at the show, which is sponsored by the local cultural organization Four Seasons of the Arts, but admission is free.

Saturday

9 a.m.-4 p.m. — Rangers and volunteers will pre-sent and demonstrate Union Civil War artillery at Battery De Golyer, Stop No. 1 on the Vicksburg National Military Park’s tour road. Visitors may enter the park at 3201 Clay St. The admission fee is $8.

9 a.m.-4 p.m. — Pemberton Headquarters on Crawford Street will be open for public tours.

9 a.m.-noon — Cotton will sign copies of “Like a Hideous Nightmare” at the Old Court House Museum, 1008 Cherry St.  The book can be purchased for $20 at the museum.

1-4 p.m. — A program commemorating Madame C. J. Walker, a native of Delta, La., and the nation’s first female self-made millionaire, will be held at the pavilion adjacent to the Hermione Museum, 315 N. Mulberry St., Tallulah.  The program, set to include live music and poetry readings, is free and open to the public.

7:30 p.m. — The Krackerjacks, a rock band from Greenville, will perform in front of the old train depot on Levee Street.  The concert is free and open to the public.

9 p.m. — A fireworks show will be at City Front.  The show is free and open to the public.