VIDALIA — A tradition that began in the mid 1800s will continue for Miss-Lou residents on Memorial Day.

This year’s parade will line up at 8 a.m. Monday at Zion Baptist Church on Magnolia Street, where they will leave to travel across the Mississippi River Bridge to the Natchez National Cemetery.

Parade organizer Eddie Coleman Jr. said Miss-Lou residents have been observing the holiday by crossing the river for nearly 150 years.

Parade participants will walk on the inside lane of the eastbound Mississippi River Bridge, while the right lane will remain open to traffic.

“We tightened up on police officers and we have a committee that will walk alongside the parade to make sure no one interferes with the parade and to make sure no one in the parade crosses the yellow line,” Coleman said.

Once the parade enters Natchez, participants will take a 30-minute break in the Natchez Visitor Center parking lot before being escorted by the Natchez Police Department to the cemetery.

Coleman said the parade is expected to arrive at the cemetery at 11 a.m.

At 11:30 a.m., the cemetery will host a Memorial Day Program with keynote speaker Chaplain Williams F. Kizziar.

Cemetery supervisor Sheila Smith said it’s important for the Miss-Lou area to attend the event.

Smith’s son, SSGT Williams Johnson, serves in the U.S. Air Force.

“We need to let our soldiers and family know that we have not forgotten about them,” Smith said.

Coleman said the parade’s inception stretches back to 1866 when a group of soldiers marched to the Natchez landing and crossed the river on a steamboat to land in Vidalia.

The parade began as a way to pay respect to fallen veterans and carry on a tradition, when Miss-Lou residents celebrated Memorial Day by crossing the Mississippi River by ferry, walking to the top of Silver Street and marching to the cemetery. After the bridge was built in the 1940s, residents began marching across the bridge to the cemetery.

The parade will include the Youth Challenge Program and an area band with participants from Ferriday, Vidalia, Natchez and Fayette.

The parade is under the leadership of the American Legion Post 590 in Vidalia, which is commanded by WWII veteran Frank Williams.

In honor of Memorial Day, area residents will gather at the cemetery’s flagpole at 8 a.m. Saturday for a flag ceremony.

Following the ceremony, volunteers can place flags on each grave at the cemetery.

Volunteers are welcomed to help lay the flags, Smith said. Additionally, the American Legion Auxiliary Boyd Mann Unit 163 will host its annual Memorial Day program at 2 p.m. Monday at Trinity Presbyterian Church on 401 3rd St. in Jonesville.

Refreshments will be served following the program.