The year 2024 was not light on things to do in the River City. The Miss Mississippi competition rolled into town over the summer for its annual influx of beautiful and talented contestants and the house was packed for each night of the event. Also during the summer months, the Bill Dance Rivermonsters Catfish Tournament made its second trip to town and made quite the splash – pun intended – with the biggest payout in its history. And that was just what Vicksburg had going on while school was out.

Looking ahead to 2025 and there doesn’t appear to be any reprieve from excitement in sight. The entire year will serve as one big celebration for the city’s bicentennial, a municipal election will no doubt keep us busy following the local races and the aforementioned events will be making yet another return to town.

And those are just the things we know about. From January to December, Vicksburg will be awash with planned events – some we are used to and some that are brand new – thanks in large part to organizations like the Downtown Main Street Program, Visit Vicksburg and the Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce.

But, we’ll also have to be ready for the unexpected. As is true each year, 2025 will no doubt lob some curve balls our way. But, as always, Vicksburg and Warren County residents will come together in the new year to celebrate the good, overcome the bad and look ahead with hope.

And that’s what we’ll do for the next few days as a new year looms Wednesday: We’ll look ahead with hope that 2025 will be all of the good things 2024 was and none of the bad.

Here’s to a new beginning. Happy New Year.