The lights on the police cars danced, classic cars revved their engines and four different marching bands played Christmas tunes as the annual festival of lights and sound known as the Downtown Christmas Parade of Lights brought the festive feeling of Christmas to downtown Vicksburg.

Washington Street was lined with people Saturday evening for the annual Christmas parade, which included floats from churches and schools, performances by marching bands from Vicksburg, Warren Central and St. Aloysius high schools and Warren Central Junior High and even an appearance by Miss Mississippi Anne Elizabeth Buys, who served as Grand Marshal for this year’s parade.

“This is our first time in a couple years,” Brandy Stewart, who attended the parade with her two kids and her mom, said. “Last year it was too cold for the baby so this year was better weather for us. We thought it was really good. Some of the motorcycles were too loud for the baby, but he liked waving at everybody.”

The parade started with a police escort with officers from the Vicksburg Police Department and Warren County Sheriff’s Office and ended with Santa and Mrs. Claus riding through downtown on a fire truck.

“We come every year, but we didn’t realize they were having it this year,” Jennifer Kelly, who attended the parade with her son, said. “We kind of stumbled up on it. My baby had heard they were going to have it so we saw the police lights and we came on down. We’ve enjoyed it.”

Parade goers were treated to clear weather and cool temperatures a year after rain forced the parade to be postponed for a week.

The theme for this year’s parade was Home for the Holidays and many of the floats showed scenes of families sitting down to read Christmas books or enjoying a Christmas meal near the tree.

“Seeing the different bands, Santa Claus of course, seeing everything,” Kelly said of what she enjoys about the parade. “It is a good enjoyment, a good family thing to do. To be able to come down here and watch the different schools participate and the different churches participate, I think it is a good thing. I like it. I think it was great.”