Sweet things happen when candy is involved and on Saturday the Outlets at Vicksburg hosted their inaugural Halloween event. Maskers came in droves to get a head start on their trick-or-treating and the parade of costumes ranged from the traditional witches, ghosts and goblins, to super heroes, dinosaurs and Star Wars characters, including Yoda, storm troopers and various Sith lords.

“I love this,” said Andrea Scott, who brought her son, Jadyn Wells, 3, to collect goodies. “We just moved back here from Hattiesburg, so this is our first time here. This is nice, and it’s safe, and it gives him a chance to get out and do something.”

To get their treats, trick-or-treaters walked a route beginning at either end of the mall and went to the other end, stopping at the different stores for treats. At times the traffic became heavy at some locations causing a costumed gridlock as parents and children tried to negotiate the sidewalks.

“This has been exciting,” said mall office employee Katie Rayborn. “We’ve had a great turnout.

More positives in Vicksburg:

4 Eleven city residents are donating their time and own money to help improve the Vicksburg animal shelter.

“We’ve come in and cleaned the kennels, bought food and pallets for the dogs to lie on instead of that hard plastic in the kennels, and bought food for the animals,” said Darlene Hughes, one of the 11 volunteers who since Oct. 4 has been working shifts between 8 to 11 a.m. and 3 to 5 p.m. to assist at the shelter, located at the end of Old Mill Road near the Vicksburg Fire Department training center.

Shelter supervisor Robert May said the volunteers have provided necessary assistance for the kennel. “They help us a lot,” he said. “I like it that they take the dogs out and walk them. The animals seem a lot happier because they’re able to get out of the runs. They do a lot of work around here; it’s made things better.”

4 Former Vicksburg resident Amanda Cashman was named the 2016 Outstanding Young Alumna at Millsaps College.

The award is given to an alumnus/a who graduated in the last 15 years and has exemplified leadership and commitment to Millsaps. Cashman is a 2009 graduate of Millsaps College, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Studio Art.