It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas everywhere you look in downtown Natchez.

In addition to the traditional Christmas tree that’s popped up in its usual location, squarely in the middle of the intersection of Main and Commerce streets, new wreaths have gone up along some streets and garland will soon follow.

The new decorations give a much-needed boost to the Christmas spirit in Natchez. The local business community funded most of the decorations.

In addition to the new look, the Christmas in Natchez event looks to be the first of what may become one of Natchez’s newest big events.

Christmas in Natchez makes sense and has been needed as a point of focus and marketing for years. By creating an “event” for Christmas, hopefully merchants — even those not directly located in downtown — will feel the impact of outsiders coming to the city to see what Natchez has to offer.

The goal is to goose the local economy a bit.

But in addition, it might just remind us all that nothing comes to those who sit and wait. Just like some of the other highly successful events in our community — balloon race, pilgrimage, etc. — lots of hard work is involved.

And, before the fun even begins, we thank all of the people who are working hard to make this inaugural event a big success.