Vicksburg is known for the sounds of the blues, and the city is going to be singing along Thursday night at the first Downtown at Dusk concert at River Stage Plaza.

“We’ve been talking about bringing music downtown for a while,” said Kim Hopkins, executive director of the Vicksburg Main Street Program.

Jessie Primer III will start the night off at 5:30 p.m., with the first live performance and play until 7 p.m. when Jessie Robinson will take over until 8: 30 p.m. Both performers are based out of Jackson but have played in Vicksburg before.

River Stage Plaza is near the corner of Crawford and Washington streets in the parking lot across from Cinnamon Tree.

The Wine House, The Brick and KJ’s River Town Grille are all participating in Thursday night’s event by selling food and beverages to concertgoers. Downtown at Dusk planning committee member Angela Jenkins said she requested for the restaurants to offer quicker, smaller and cheaper options that would be easier to eat outside,  like sliders or chicken fingers, for the crowd to select from. A table will be set up on the street, she said, where customers can place their order, pay and pick up their meal. Beer and wine will also be available for purchase.

Limited seating is available, but Hopkins encourages people to bring lawn chairs and blankets to bundle up all evening in the cool fall weather.

“It should be a great night,” Hopkins said. “The air’s getting a little bit cooler, but not too cold.”

Jenkins said this is the first concert in a series the City of Vicksburg has planned in collaboration with the Vicksburg Main Street Program. Another show will be held in November before a brief winter break. Shows will start back up again in the spring.

“We’ll be doing it every so often downtown just to promote the shopping downtown and the music downtown,” Hopkins said.

The city, along with Mayor George Flaggs Jr., has wanted to bring music downtown for a while, Jenkins said, and now they have done so by teaming up with Main Street. Hopkins said the goal is to get the community involved and enjoy downtown.

“The mayor wants to bring people downtown during the week to help promote the local businesses, especially since on Thursdays they are open until 7 p.m.,” Jenkins said.

Every Thursday night many of the shops on Washington Street stay open later than the usual 5 p.m. closing time of most stores. Those who don’t make it downtown during the day have an opportunity to shop Thursday evening with a soundtrack accompanying them this week.

“We’ve got so many new things going on downtown,” Hopkins said. “It’ll be a chance for people to come down and see what we have.”

Parking is available in the parking garages on Mulberry Street as well as limited spots along the downtown streets. Hopkins said they plan to have extra patrol on the side streets.

“Come out and eat good and enjoy the night,” Jenkins said. “It should be good.”