Vicksburg will kick off its Independence Day festivities Thursday and end with a bang Saturday night with the city’s 40th annual Fourth of July event.

A fireworks show preceded by a free concert is expecting to draw large crowds to the downtown area over the weekend.

“We expect around 7,000 people downtown,” city parks and recreation director Joe Graves said. “We usually see between 7,000 to 10,000 people during the celebration.

“The fireworks will last 30 minutes and cost the City of Vicksburg $30,000,” Graves said.

The fireworks finale follows a 7 p.m. performance by Mustache The Band, a country/rock band from Oxford. The stage will be set up in front of the Old Depot Museum, and fireworks will be shot from behind the museum on the Yazoo Diversion Canal beginning around 9 p.m.

The holiday weekend kicks off on Thursday with the Downtown Watermelon Social with Washington Street merchants staying open until 7 p.m.

Saturday and Sunday, the Vicksburg National Military Park Living History Detachment will present artillery demonstrations commemorating the 152nd Anniversary of the Confederate Surrender of the Vicksburg garrison.

“The program will focus on the surrender and what it meant for the residents of Vicksburg,” ranger Jake Koch said. “The Living History volunteers will be dressed in Union uniforms because they will be at Tour Stop 1, Battery DeGolyer.”

Demonstrations and cannon firings will be held at 9, 10, and 11 a.m. and at 1, 2 and 3 p.m. each day. The programs will each last approximately fifteen minutes.

The courthouse grounds, where the Union army gathered after the Siege of Vicksburg, will be open for spectators who want to watch the show from the Yazoo Diversion Canal.

Visitors who want to sit on the lawn are encouraged to bring their own lawn chairs or blankets.

Because the holiday falls on a Saturday, the city is expecting an even bigger crowd than previous years.

“We want to produce a quality product for the people of Vicksburg,” Graves said. “That’s what we want, for the people to be able to come out and have fun.”