Annual Parks event promises four days of variety

Jill Warford had originally not planned as many events this year for the upcoming Gordon Parks Celebration of Culture and Diversity as she had in past years, but the phone kept ringing and she managed to fill the four-day event with a variety of activities.

Ticket sales for the third annual festival, planned for Oct. 4-7 at Fort Scott Community College and other locations in Fort Scott, have been going well heading into the week before the event kicks off, Warford said.

"It's been going pretty steady," she said. "We hope they pick up in the next week and a half."

About 2,000 people from all across the country attended the celebration last year, Warford said, although actual final attendance numbers were difficult to determine.

The celebration honoring the late Fort Scott native begins at 8 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 4, when renowned jazz singer Queen Bey, dubbed the Ambassador of Jazz, gives a presentation to Fort Scott Middle School students on the topics of music and mutual respect.

These presentations, which are sponsored by the Bourbon County Arts Council, will take place at different times for sixth, seventh and eighth grade students starting at 8 a.m. and ending at 1 p.m. that day at FSMS, 1105 E. 12th St.

A registration and souvenir table will be open from 2 to 4 p.m. that day in the FSCC Academic Building commons area, 2108 S. Horton St. A screening of "Moments Without Proper Names," a documentary about Parks' life that will be introduced by his son, David Parks, will take place from 2:30 to 4 p.m. Oct. 4 in the FSCC Academic Building. The film screening is free of charge.

Also during these times, the Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce and Visitor's Center will provide festival-goers with trolley tours of Fort Scott, including Evergreen Cemetery where Parks is buried, and different locales where the Parks-directed film "The Learning Tree" was filmed.

Guests may meet at the FSACC Visitor's Center, 231 E. Wall St, starting at 2:30 p.m. The fee to take the tour is $5. The trolleys will also run from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 5, and from 1:30 to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 7.

A special screening of "The Learning Tree," with an introduction by cast member Karole Graham, who portrayed the character of Big Mabel in the film, will take place from 3 to 5 p.m. that day in the FSCC Academic Building.

At 7 p.m. that evening, a free community interfaith service titled "A Legacy of Faith," will take place at the First Christian Church, 101 S. Judson St. Guest speakers Joseph McLiney, an investment banker from Kansas City, Mo., and Joseph Taban Rafino will speak about "The Lost Boys of the Sudan," the story of two Sudanese refugees who led other refugees on an arduous journey from Africa to America.

During the late 1980s, Rafino was one of thousands of refugees who trekked hundreds of miles through treacherous African wilderness and lived to tell the story of their journey.

The registration and souvenir table will also be open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 5, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., Friday, Oct. 6, and from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Oct. 7 at FSCC.

A screening of the HBO documentary "Half Past Autumn," introduced by David Parks, will take place from 9 to 10:45 a.m. in the FSCC Academic Building.

A "Pizza for Poets" luncheon for area grade school poetry contest winners will take place from noon to 1 p.m. that day in the FSCC Academic Building. The lunch is open only to the contest winners, an FSCC statement said.

Parks' daughter, Toni Parks Parsons, will display work from her father's collections and some of her own photography during a special presentation titled "A Father's Legacy: What I've Learned From My Father," from 1:30 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 5.

That evening, a multi-media presentation titled "Gordon Parks: A Lasting Legacy," will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the FSMS Commons area and will feature poetry, images, films, and interviews with Parks himself. This event will be hosted by award-winning history and social sciences instructor Norm Conard.

Many of the participants include Parks' family members and friends who have also included special videotaped messages for the event. Blues guitarist Lem Shepard will perform during this event, which costs $8 to attend.

Ray Sharp, a friend of Parks, is scheduled to attend the four-day festival and will speak from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 6. Sharp, who is from Upper Montclair, N.J., will show off the green Jaguar sports car that Parks owned for several years before selling it to Sharp. Sharp's presentation should be an event that appeals especially to young people, Warford said.

From 9:45 to 10:45 a.m. that day, Ann Brill, the Dean of the Journalism School at the University of Kansas, will discuss the last interview Parks gave in December of 2005 after he accepted the William Allen White Award at the University of Kansas. This free event will also take place in the FSCC Academic Building. A legacy luncheon with Parks' family and friends, as well as cast members from "The Learning Tree" will follow from 12:30 to 1:45 p.m. that day in the FSCC cafeteria. Reservations, which cost $8, are required for the luncheon.

Barbara Baker Burrows, a long-time friend of Parks, will speak at 11 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 6 in the FSCC Academic Building. Burrows is the photo editor for Life magazine, where Parks once worked and where Burrows has worked for more than 35 years. The presentation is titled "Gordon Parks and Life magazine: A Fifty-Year Partnership."

Acclaimed photographer Howard Bingham, who will also receive the Gordon Parks Choice of Weapons Award at a ceremony Friday evening, will show selections of his work and talk about his relationships with Muhammad Ali, Gordon Parks, Joe Louis, Bill Cosby and other famous people from 2 to 3:15 p.m. in the FSCC Academic Building.

Writer Ann Parr will sign copies of her book about Parks' work titled "Gordon Parks: No Excuses," from 3:30 to 4 p.m. in the FSCC Academic Building.

The Gordon Parks Celebration Tribute Dinner, which Warford said should be the highlight of this year's event, is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 6, at the Liberty Theatre, 113 S. Main St. The evening of dinner and music is hosted by native Kansan and journalist Bill Kurtis. Queen Bey is also scheduled to perform at the tribute dinner. The cost to reserve a table for this event is $25.

"It will be a real special evening," Warford said.

The final day of the four-day celebration concludes beginning at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 7 with a program titled "The Buried Roots of African-American History of Fort Scott," a project funded by the Kansas Humanities Council. In the project, several local residents are trying to uncover buried African-American history in Fort Scott, including that of Parks' family. A panel discussion led by Fort Scott historian Arnold Schofield, will also include some of the project's steering committee members.

Starting at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 7 in the FSCC Academic Building, former Fort Scott photographer Michael Henry will exhibit some of the photographs he took of Parks on different occasions over a 20 to 30 year period. From the filming of "The Learning Tree," to Parks' visit to Fort Scott in 1996, audience members will be able to view never-before-seen images of Parks.

A picnic luncheon is planned from noon to 1:15 p.m. on Saturday in Gunn Park, where portions of "The Learning Tree" were filmed. The meal will include Southeast Kansas-style chicken and other food items. Reservations for the picnic luncheon are $7 per person, which will take place in Shelter House No. 1.

The four-day event concludes with a remembrance service at Evergreen Cemetery, where Parks was buried following funeral services in Fort Scott in March.

For more information about the celebration or to obtain a full schedule of events, call Warford at (620) 223-2700, extension 515, or visit the Internet site www.gordonparkscenter.org.