Area residents and visitors are invited to come out and enjoy the annual Fourth of July fireworks display sponsored tonight by the Isle of Capri Casino.

Fireworks will be launched from a barge next to the casino. John Duchkar, senior director of marketing at Isle of Capri, said the fireworks display is set to begin between about 8:30 p.m. and 8:45 p.m.

&uot;We really want everyone to enjoy the fireworks,&uot; Duchkar said. &uot;The darker it is outside the better the display will show up.&uot;

The best place to enjoy the fireworks display is &uot;anywhere along the river.&uot; This would include Broadway Street in downtown Natchez and Natchez Under-the-Hill.

The Center will have parking available for spectators’ convenience.

&uot;We welcome and encourage people to have a safe and enjoyable Fourth,&uot; said Darrell White of the Visitor Reception Center.

The center will be open 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the Fourth, but will not be open during the fireworks display.

Trolleys will extend their running time for the evening’s festivities.

This year’s fireworks display will last 20 to 30 minutes, and is the area’s largest organized celebration, according to Laura Godfrey of the Natchez Convention and Visitor Bureau.

In Vidalia, police are asking those who come to the riverfront to view the fireworks display not to walk or drive onto the Mississippi River side of the levee to do it.

That is because work on a proposed riverfront development, Vidalia Landing, is under way, said Police Chief Billy Hammers.

&uot;We don’t want them down there when work is going on, so we plan to put up barricades and have extra officers on duty to direct people on where to go,&uot;&160;Hammers said. Five reserve officers and three full-time policemen will be on duty.

Otherwise, people will be able to view the fireworks from the levee and park anywhere they wish as long as they do not block driveways, he added.

At the Vidalia levee, members of Vidalia’s First Baptist Church will be selling items during the fireworks display to raise money for a mission trip to England.

Tonight, members will sell baked goods, sodas, bottled water and glow-in-the-dark bracelets and necklaces. The church has already raised thousands of dollars for the mission trip. Fund raisers have included a barbecue chicken dinner, a dinner theater and a donut sale.

And the church will hold a fund-raising softball tournament this weekend, said the Rev. Gary Nunn, the church’s pastor.

In all, 36 of the church’s members – many of them youth – will travel July 21 to two London suburbs to witness through puppet shows, drama and Vacation Bible School-type activities. They will return July 31.

Other Fourth of July events in the area will include the third annual Sadie V. Thompson Era Reunion Banquet to be held at the Natchez Mall 9:00 p.m. to midnight.