Christmas has gone downtown.

Along Washington Street in the Vicksburg Main Street District, from Veto Street north to Jackson Street, banners with holiday greetings, lighted Christmas stockings, candles and wreaths adorn the street lights. About 600 strings of lights encircle the trees.

Tuesday afternoon, city Landscape and Building Maintenance Department employees were installing pole garlands — lighted decorations that will climb the city’s street light poles and accent the decorations and banners adorning their tops.

“The garland is the newest addition to the decorations, and we’re putting them on the five blocks of Washington Street,” Main Street executive director Kim Hopkins said. “Each year since about 2010, we’ve tried to add something new.”

Besides downtown, she said, the four trees at the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad Depot will be decorated with lights.

She said the cost of the garland and new bows for the wreaths was $4,000.

Since 2010, Main Street has spent $9,000 on new decorations for downtown. In addition to the money for the garland and bows, Main Street in 2011 spent $4,000 for LED lights to replace the old holiday lighting system, banners and replacement bows. It spent $1,000 for lights in 2010.

Hopkins said the decorations are funded through money generated by the special 5.05-mill tax on commercial property in the designated Main Street area.

She said very few decorations are discarded.

“We try to use everything,” she said. “Last year we replaced the lights, and we try to replace the bows on the wreaths every year. The wreaths are the oldest decorations we have, and they’re about 8 years old. We’ll eventually have to replace them.”