It was a busy weekend in Vicksburg.

From the Holly Days Arts and Crafts event to the Christmas parade, there was fun for all.

Hundreds of shoppers were able to check items off their Christmas list Saturday during the 10th annual Holly Days Arts and Crafts show hosted by the Southern Cultural Heritage Center.

Twenty-seven vendors were in attendance selling their wares including handmade guitars, candles, stained glass and more.

SCHC executive director Stacey Mahoney said the event was a little different this year in an effort to keep things “fresh and new,” which included several new vendors selling their wares.

One of the new vendors was Joe Cole, who made the trip from Flora to sell his Deep Root Guitars, which he makes using license plates and cigar boxes. This was only Cole’s second show to sell his guitars, but he said he plans to return to Holly Days next year.

“I thought it would be a good time with Christmas and these make great Christmas presents. I thought I’d come out and see if anybody wants one,” Cole said.

While shoppers were checking out the crafts, they also had the opportunity to watch performances by the Riverpointe Dance Studio, Debra Franco School of Dance and the music students of Jeanne Evans.

Following the SCHF Holly Days Arts and Crafts event, the annual Downtown Christmas Parade of lights kicked off.

Washington Street was lined with people for the annual event, which included floats from churches and schools, performances by marching bands from Vicksburg, Warren Central and St. Aloysius high schools and Warren Central Junior High and even an appearance by Miss Mississippi Anne Elizabeth Buys, who served as Grand Marshal for this year’s parade.

The theme for this year’s parade was Home for the Holidays and many of the floats showed scenes of families sitting down to read Christmas books or enjoying a Christmas meal near the tree.

Jennifer Kelly, who attended the parade with her son, said they come to the parade every year.

“Seeing the different bands, Santa Claus of course, seeing everything,” Kelly said is what she enjoys about the parade. “It is a good enjoyment, a good family thing to do. To be able to come down here and watch the different schools participate and the different churches participate, I think it is a good thing. I like it. I think it was great.”

More positives this week in Vicksburg:

• This weekend marked the third annual handicap hunt hosted by the west Mississippi chapter of Hope Outdoors, and 27 disabled hunters spent the weekend in the woods enjoying deer season. Twenty-five local landowners volunteered the use of their land and served as guides to make the hunt possible.

• Approximately 1300 National Guard members and family gathered in the Vicksburg Convention Center for the Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program, Saturday. The program is a reintegration program to prepare soldiers and their families for deployment, Lt. Christopher James, with Yellow Ribbon, said.