The Vicksburg Main Street program is hitting the bricks in an effort to raise money for the organization and make a mark downtown.

The brickscape project is being called “Make Your Mark in Downtown: One Brick at a Time.”

“We started this to raise money for improvements of downtown. We have the parking garages that we’ve been trying to paint and then we have the alleyways that we helped put iron gates on and several other projects that we are looking at doing,” Kim Hopkins, director of Vicksburg Main Street, said.

Funds generated could be used to improve signs for shops and restaurants downtown, Hopkins said. In addition, funds could be used for façade improvement grants for merchants who work to improve their curb appeal through renovations.

This fundraiser supplements the revenue generated from the special assessment levied on commercial real property in the program’s taxing district.

That taxing district and levy was renewed Tuesday for an additional year.

Bricks are available for $50 each and can be inscribed on three lines with up to 15 characters, including spaces, on each line.

Those who purchase bricks will be able to see a proof of the brick to make certain wording is correct before the brick is finalized, Hopkins said.

She said she would place brick orders when she receives at least 20 requests.

“We’ve had a couple people call us and are wanting to place some [orders] so we’re trying to hold off to see if those come in,” Hopkins said.

The next order of bricks should be installed before Christmas.

The 4×8 bricks are placed in the Old Depot Museum walkway starting on the side of the building where Grove and Levee Street meet. So far, almost 100 bricks have been placed in the area around the Depot, and they don’t plan on running out of space any time soon.

“We looked at some different areas over there and that seemed to be the best place to start, wouldn’t really run out of room quick,” Jeff Richardson, landscape architect for the city of Vicksburg, said.

“I think there’s somewhere between 16,000 and 18,000 bricks out there just on that south end.”

The city’s street department takes up the current blank bricks in the walkway and puts the newly inscribed bricks into the ground with the help of the landscape department.

“We picked that area right out from that first radius in between the trees,” Richardson said. “She [Hopkins] sells them and then when she gets them done the street department — the brick layers — put them down.”

Cities and college campuses around the country offer brick inscriptions, which is where Hopkins got the inspiration to start this project.

“I have seen it done before, I think I was in Detroit, and they had them everywhere in Detroit,” Hopkins said.

Bricks can be ordered from the Vicksburg Main Street office at 1010 Levee Street, Third Floor, Suite D, by emailing kimh@vicksburg.org or by calling 601-634-4527. The application can also be found online at downtownvicksburg.org/downtown/brickscape-project.

“They’re great for graduation gifts, birthday gifts, memorial gifts, anniversaries, births, you can do it just because,” Hopkins said. “We had somebody call and they were looking at getting them for Christmas gifts for people who have everything.”