It has been a busy week in Vicksburg.

From community service, to tourism, to fundraisers, the Red Carpet City has been eventful.

On Monday night, members of the Jackson Street Baptist Church packed boxes filled with turkeys and the trimmings.

“This is something we do annually around the holidays here, the Rev. Trollars Moore said. “We do the complete box for the Thanksgiving holiday.”

Moore said the church held a sign up through Nov. 12 for any family that needed assistance with food for the Thanksgiving holiday.

“We put it out there and they came and filled out a little form with their name and address and contact phone number and when we looked up we had 200 people,” Moore said, “No one was turned down.”

On Wednesday, three riverboats, the American Duchess, America and Queen of the Mississippi, made simultaneous stops in Vicksburg as part of their respective tours of the Mississippi River, bringing about 475 visitors to Vicksburg for a daylong visit.

“I think this is great,” executive director of the Vicksburg-Warren Chamber of Commerce Pablo Diaz said, as he watched the Queen of the Mississippi dock. “I think this is a glimpse of what’s to come as the interest in the Mississippi River and Vicksburg grows and riverboat companies learn more about the changes going on in Vicksburg and plan more stops here. We will be a greater attraction once the river walk is completed.”

On Saturday, nearly 90 participants came out for the second annual Turkey Trot, which benefits Jacob’s Ladder Learning Center, a non-profit school for young adults with intellectual disabilities.

The 5K race started on Monroe Street behind Mutual Credit Union shortly after 8 a.m. and runners made their way along the  course, which traversed through downtown. The race was followed by a one-mile fun run for kids.

“I think we had a great event,” Rebecca Busby, director of Jacob’s Ladder, said. “The weather has been perfect. We had a great amount of volunteers and everything is falling in place nicely.”

The Turkey Trot is an extra fundraiser Busby said and will allow the center to help fund a couple of projects already in the works.

More positives in Vicksburg this week:

•  On Thursday, the employees at Riverwalk put the finishing touches on their can food drive and donated more than 1,600 food items to the Storehouse Community Food Pantry. The collected items were loaded into a semi truck and taken to the pantry where they will be used to help those in need throughout Warren County.

•  On Friday, Karen Biedenharn, was presented with the Landy Teller Champion for Culture and the Arts Award during the Southern Cultural Heritage Foundation’s annual meeting. Las t year, an anonymous gift was made in memory of Teller, who was a founding member and on the Board of Directors of the SCHF, and the gift’s intent was to start an endowment that would fund an award to be presented to an individual who contributes to culture and the arts in Vicksburg.