More than a week after the city used 800 crowd-control barricades at the 10th annual Mardi Gras parade, the head of the sponsoring organization says an effort will be made to improve their placement.

“We’re trying to work on that,” said Harry Sharp, chairman of the board of the Vicksburg Main Street Program, which sponsors the parade along Washington Street. He said coordinating agencies, the Vicksburg Police and Street departments and Main Street, will work more closely in the future so problems reported by Washington Street business owners are not repeated.

Derrick Davis, owner of the Juke Joint Restaurant and Blues Exhibit at 1415 Washington, and Timmie Fedell, the owner of Michel’s Record Shop, next door at 1417 Washington, said the barricades from Bridge Street to Jackson Street were installed too early and hurt business throughout the day of the parade, March 5.

“It did not help at all,” Fedell said. “It kept people from coming in. I had calls all day asking me what was going on.

“I lost about three-fourths of my business that day,” Fedell said.

Davis estimated he lost 60 percent of the day’s revenue at his restaurant.

“I was disappointed that day,” Davis said.

Installation of the metal barricades, which limited access to storefronts and parking, began at 8 a.m. for the parade that began at 4 p.m.

“This was the first time we put this much up,” said Street Department superintendent Skipper Whittington whose crew installed the barricades. He said workers were not sure how long placement would take. He also said nearly an inch of rain reported that day played a role in the timing.

“We’re going to make it closer to the start next time and do a better job, now that we know how long it will take,” Whittington said.

The barricades were dismantled immediately following the hourlong parade that attracted nearly 1,200 people and 42 floats.

The concerns by business owners mimick those voiced nearly three years ago by another downtown businessman, Robert Ware, who said fencing during Riverfest kept customers from his lounge and motel, The Ware House, also in the 1400 block of Washington.

Davis fears the problems could return during this year’s Riverfest, the downtown festival set for April 15-16.

“They’re going to put the gates up again and they’re going to shut me out again,” he said.

On the other side of the fence are the parade-goers who appreciated the presence of the barriers at a parade known to have an active crowd.

“The crowd control gates were the best thing to happen to this parade,” said Pauline Vessell, who was part of the Krewe of Danny Hearn Trucking, which won the parade’s Best in Show Award. “It was well-worth the money for them.”

The city bought 940 barricade segments in 2009 with $67,680 in Justice Assistance Grant money under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

It was the first time they had been all along Washington Street.