NATCHEZ — After heavy rain postponed it last week, the Natchez Christmas parade looks to spread holiday cheer today.

The parade will begin at 4 p.m. today, with lineup set for 2 p.m.

The Natchez Police Department asks that all vehicles parked on streets on the parade route are moved by noon.

NPD Sgt. Jerry Ford said the police department will begin towing in unmoved cars at 2 p.m.

The annual holiday parade has been expanded this year in celebration of the tricentennial and is the last major event before the 300th birthday year comes to a close with the Unity, Prayer and Praise Celebration on Dec. 31.

The parade will feature 30 floats as well as local officials and guests of honor.

Special guests Hutke Fields, principal chief and Great Sun of the Natchez Nation, and other Native Americans will participate in the parade.

Residents featured in the National Park Service’s Natchez History Minute Project are also invited to march in the parade.

The Miss-Lou Veterans Coalition Honor Guard will lead the parade, which will feature bands from Natchez High and middle schools, Vidalia High School and Jefferson County.

The parade will go down Broadway Street, up Orleans to Canal, down Canal to Main, up Main to Union, cross Union to Franklin and go down Franklin to end back on Broadway.

Tricentennial and Interim Tourism Director Jennifer Ogden Combs said she is happy parade organizers were able to reschedule the parade in light of the bad weather last week.

Skies should be clear today with plenty of sunshine, and temperatures will top out at 45 degrees with a low of 25 degrees.

“Instead of the torrential rains last weekend, now we can have a Christmas parade and it feels like Christmas,” Combs said. “We’re so fortunate we were able to reschedule. We hope everyone will bundle up and come out to enjoy downtown Natchez and celebrate Christmas together.”

Combs said anyone who misses Santa today at the parade can catch him again for at the Coca-Cola Santa Truck Tour scheduled for 6-8 p.m. Dec. 15 on the bluff.