Fort Scott's weekend calendar full

This weekend is packed with activities ranging from Civil War reenactments at the Fort Scott National Historic Site, to presentations and discussions on the Holocaust at Fort Scott Community College.

Volunteer reenactors will portray Army personnel and civilians in Fort Scott during the mid-1800s when the annual Civil War Encampment takes places Saturday and Sunday at the historic site.

Visitors will be able to view Civil War history as the Union Army reoccupies Fort Scott. Ongoing living history demonstrations and portrayals will take place throughout the day. The events of 1863 will be featured.

Programs will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, with an evening program scheduled for 6:30 p.m., and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. Programs both days will include army drills and demonstrations of historic weapons.

The Lowell Milken Center and the Life in a Jar Foundation will team to host "Healing in the Heartland: A Holocaust Literature Lecture and Discussion," a morning of readings, presentations and conversations about the Holocaust and its unlikely connections to Kansas starting at 10 a.m. Saturday in the Danny and Willa Ellis Family Fine Arts Center on the FSCC campus. The event is free of charge and open to the public.

The event will feature Jenna Blum, a New York Times bestselling author, and Jack Mayer, author of "Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project." Blum, from Wichita, and Mayer, who is coming from Vermont, will speak and share information and stories about their books.

Blum's novel, "Those Who Save Us," explores the legacy of the Holocaust through multiple generations of one family. Blum worked for Steven Spielberg's Shoah Foundation for four years and is currently writing a screenplay while researching for her third book.

Mayer's novel is about the Kansas teens who discovered Sendler, a Polish woman who saved 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II. Mayer has spent considerable time in Fort Scott interviewing Lowell Milken Center Executive Director Norm Conard and his former students about their experiences meeting Sendler and performing the play that made them famous. They will also be attending the event.

There will be an opportunity for audience members to meet the authors and ask questions. The event is sponsored by a grant from the Kansas Humanities Council.

Home, sport

and garden show

Also taking place this weekend will be the annual Home, Sport, Farm and Garden Show hosted by All Hit 103.9 KOMB/KMDO from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Arnold Arena on the FSCC campus.

For the second straight year, the local radio station is hosting the event, which organizers said gives businesses from around the region a chance to show their wares to a large group of people at one time.

Besides vendor booths offering such products as home decor, kitchen items and furniture, farm and garden equipment and products related to hunting and fishing, the show will feature product demonstrations, displays, prize giveaways and food.

Last year's two-day event drew about 2,000 people and 69 businesses promoted their products and services.

FSCC Open House

FSCC will host its first-ever Open House from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday on the college campus. Most of the campus buildings will be open to host community members, including Bailey Hall, the fine arts center, Hedges Administration Building and Boileau Hall.

The open house is designed to bring community members on to the college campus and get them familiar with college offerings and programs. The event involves opening up the campus to the entire community, letting them see the college's facilities and giving them the chance to meet many members of the college's staff, a news release said.

The event will replace FSCC's annual Community Appreciation Day.

"Community Appreciation Day has been a successful event over the past four year, boasting over 400 in attendance," Director of Public Relations Kathleen Hinrichs said. "But we thought it was time to change things up a bit. Teaming with the All Hit 103.9 KOMB/KMDO Home, Sport, Farm and Garden Show seemed like a perfect fit. We want to highlight a few areas of interest while community members are already on campus."

Five areas will be featured during the open house, including the Maximized Individualized Learning Lab (MILL), the Student Union, the Gordon Parks Museum, FSCC's Follett Bookstore, and Boileau Hall. At each location, attendees will receive a sticker to attach to a drawing registration form. Once they have all five stickers, they will be entered to win a Sony Bravia 32-inch TV, the release said.

The open house is just one event that FSCC hosts for the community in April, which is National Community College Month. Other April events hosted by FSCC include the Women's Appreciation Luncheon, FSCC Jazz Band Concert, Choir and Orchestra Spring Concert, FSCC Talent Show and FSCC's annual Endowment Scholarship Auction.

For more information, contact FSCC at (620) 223-2700.