Members of the community as well as visitors from out of town participated in the Gordon Parks Celebration, Oct. 22-24, hosted by the Gordon Parks Museum and the Fort Scott Community College and providing a variety of events, tours and competitions for participants of all ages.

Festivities kicked off with a luncheon Wednesday where elementary students read their winning poems of a contest. The Gordon Parks Museum hosted the Chamber of Commerce Chamber Coffee Thursday morning while other panel discussions and presentations were made throughout the weekend.

Fifteen high school and middle school students from local and surrounding communities also read or showed their poems, essays and photo that were chosen as finalists from 82 competitors who competed in the contest, which used photos as inspiration.

Area high school and middle school students also got to display their projects in the form of a documentary and two performances they put together for the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes and which gave them the opportunity to compete in a national competition earlier this year.

The Kansas City Lights jazz trio provided an evening of jazz Friday for members of the community as well as members of Gordon Parks’ family who were in town for the celebration.

Children were again given an opportunity to participate through the ArtCreation Workshop hosted by the museum and art teachers who helped participating children create a piece of art similar to how Gordon Parks did.

The weekend ended Saturday evening with the Celebration Tribute Dinner, when the 2015 Gordon Parks Choice of Weapons Award was presented to Genevieve Young.

“The event went very well and it was so nice to have so many Parks family members here this year,” museum director Jill Warford said of the weekend’s event.  “Also, the kids’ events were wonderful and show that we have a lot of young talented writers and artists.”