It was a Grand Ball

Tammy Helm/Tribune photos Hannah Day of Altamont, laughs as she curtseys to Wyatt Keyes of Fort Scott during a practice run of The Virginia Reel. Day she said made her ball gown using 15 yards of material. She and her father, Jon Day, said they have attended balls at other locations and this had the best turnout they had seen. Hannah Day she said she tries to make a new ball gown each year.

The Friends of the Fort Scott National Historic Site hosted a Centennial Grand Ball Saturday evening in honor of the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. The ball, held at Memorial Hall, featured music from the 1800s and attendees were encouraged, but not required, to wear period costumes.

About 85 people attended the free dance lessons held at Grand Hall on the fort grounds in the afternoon prior to the ball. There were 145 people who attended the ball, with more than 100 in the grand march, the first dance of the evening, according to Dee Young, organizer for the event.

Young said the ball had been on the minds of several volunteers "for a while." After deciding with this year being the centennial anniversary for the NPS, would be the ideal time to have a ball, she approached the Friends group to see about sponsoring the ball and making it a Friends fundraiser.

"I had no idea when we envisioned this grand ball as to how many would attend," Young said. "I guess in the back of my head I had dreams of grandeur and hundreds of people...but then reality hit and I remembered where we were and that this had