This weekend several special events will ring in the Christmas season in the Miss-Lou for everyone to enjoy.

The fun begins tonight with the annual lighting of Natchez’s downtown Christmas tree.

Tonight at 5:30 p.m. with a flip of a switch the annual downtown delight will spring to life.

The tree, which is placed directly in the intersection of Main and Commerce streets, is a tradition that is uniquely Natchez.

While it may be a bit of a puzzle to out-of-town motorists who are surprised to see a tree in the middle of the road, the tree is a wonderful holiday treat.

And the efforts of the many folks who raise the money necessary to fund the tree also deserve lots of credit.

After seeing the tree come to life tonight, you’ll only be a few hours away from watching two potentially exciting, festive parades. Natchez gets in the Christmas spirit first with its parade rolling at 10 a.m. Saturday. And Santa will perform a little magic to make it across the river to participate in the Ferriday parade which also begins at 10 a.m.

And if after all that, you still want more Christmas fun, the annual Vidalia parade will begin at 3 p.m. on Sunday.

All of that fun requires only one thing from you – your participation.

Lots of people work hard each year to produce the parades and put up the decorations that make the Miss-Lou sparkle.

With all of that yuletide fun packed into one weekend, you are sure to have visions of sugarplums dancing in your head.