There will soon be a new place to go for a fun night out with friends or to host a private party in downtown Vicksburg.

The newest location of Wine & Design, which has 79 franchises throughout the country, will open Friday. Wine & Design is a part of a growing trend nationwide where people can go for a fun night and paint a picture with help from an artist.

The Vicksburg location, 1412 Washington St., will be the first Wine & Design location in Mississippi and they will be hosting painting classes every Monday through Friday night and multiple classes on Saturdays.

The shop will also be able to host private parties for up to 24 people.

“I was bored and I watch a lot of reality shows and I always see this going on in other place,” owner Melissa Williams said of why she decided to open the shop. “I thought it looked really fun and wondered how it would do here and maybe it was something people here would get into.”

Williams started the process of opening the store in February and met with the Wine & Design corporate office to get approved to open a franchise in Vicksburg.

“You start with an interview process,” Williams said. “You fly out, they meet you and talk about your interest and vision. Then they determine if you are a good fit. It was really fun, because what I expected was not what I got. I expected these really uptight people and when I walked through the door, they were listening to Post Malone’s ‘Rockstar’ on full blast with flip-flops on.”

The shop allows people to come in and paint a picture while enjoying complimentary wine. To start with, the majority of the pictures will come from Wine & Design’s catalogue of more than 5,000 available photos. They will then be recreated by one of the five local artists on staff and the artists will work with the class attendants to create their own works of art.

“The canvases are pre-traced for you,” Williams said. “We want to give you that extra help you need especially if you are a non-artist so you can have something to help you create your masterpiece. They will go step by step and walk around and help you.”

Mel Humble, who is one of the five in house artists, said in the future they hope to feature local and Mississippi centric pieces. Those designs will be created by the in-house artists, but then must be approved by the corporate office. The shop will officially open Friday with a ribbon cutting from 11 a.m. to noon, and there will be a class that evening at 8 p.m. Saturday, there will be two classes. The first will go from noon until 2 p.m. and there will be a ladies night featuring a male model starting at 8 p.m.

There will be two more classes Sunday and Monday to wrap-up the grand opening kickoff. To see the whole upcoming schedule and register for a class, visit wineanddesign.com/locations/vicksburg.