All of Natchez is invited. Yes, Connie Taunton and her talented staff at the Natchez Visitor Reception Center, 640 S. Canal St., want everyone to attend a festive, free reception to honor the 25th anniversary of the Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration.

The party will be from 5 until 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Natchez Visitors Center.

When Connie announced that the Natchez Convention and Visitors Bureau wanted to host the congratulatory party during the Silver Anniversary weekend, all of us who work with the NLCC were honored and flattered.

“We want you to know how much we value the NLCC,” Connie said. “We are very proud to host this reception. We’ve seen the Celebration grow and are so pleased to have it as a part of our Natchez events.”

Jim Barnett, my co-chairman who represents Mississippi Department of Archives and History, and I could not have presented the celebration without the support of Connie and her team and thousands of other people during the last 25 years.

With such a coalition of support, the celebration has been very successful. We are proud of the numerous awards and recognitions the NLCC has received.

Please attend the party, pat yourself on the back and reminisce and rejoice with us.

We’ve watched Connie and her colleagues entertain before. We can’t wait for the party they will host Saturday. It will be delightful and memorable.

Looks what’s in store:

• Party food by CVB staff member Anna Byrne, featuring smoked salmon, sandwiches, cheeses and other delicacies.

• Open bar with choices of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.

• Sale and signing of The Southern Quarterly’s special double issue devoted to the NLCC’s 25th anniversary, with nearly 20 contributors on hand to autograph copies. These include former Mississippi Governor William F. Winter, Eudora Welty’s great niece, Elizabeth Eudora White, Charles Wright (reminiscing about his famous relative, Richard Wright), historians David G. Sansing and John D. W. Guice, longtime President of University of Southern Mississippi Aubrey Lucas, jazz music historian Bruce Boyd Raeburn of Tulane University, the poet Jerry W. Ward Jr. of New Orleans and Natchez’s own oral history expert, G. Mark LaFrancis.

• Group recognition of past and current NLCC speakers, award winners, other leaders plus the William Winter Scholars and Vance Fellows, who are outstanding faculty and students in Mississippi’s educational institutions.

• Remarks at 5:30 p.m. by Natchez Mayor Butch Brown and Adams County Board of Supervisors President Darryl Grennell.

• Screenings at 5 p.m., 5:45 p.m. and 6:10 p.m. of Saluting the Silver Anniversary of the NLCC, 1990-2014, a video produced by Copiah-Lincoln Community College, NLCC and M&M Productions, introduced by LaFrancis, president of M&M Productions.

As always, the parking is free and the view of the river beautiful. We hope you will join us Saturday afternoon.

 

Carolyn Vance Smith of Copiah-Lincoln Community College is founder and co-chairwoman of the Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration.