Inaugural First Amendment Festival to bring celebrations to Union City – The Jackson Sun

Union City is revving up for a weekend of fun and education as the inaugural First Amendment Festival kicks off at Discovery Park of America.

The free festival is organized by Discovery Park of America and the Freedom Forum, a nonpartisan, nonprofit foundation that works to educate citizens on their First Amendment freedoms.

This is really exciting. It's one of the biggest things that we've ever done here at Discovery Park of America, said Scott Williams, President and CEO of Discovery Park of America. When the Freedom Forum was looking for a place to host this, we were excited to learn about it and jumped on the opportunity immediately.

Discovery Park of America is a museum and heritage park located outside Union City, which sits on 50 acres featuring exhibits on local history, nature, military history, art and science.

The event will include a wide variety of family-friendly, First Amendment-themed events and games, crafts, scavenger hunts, trivia, food trucks and more, as well as live music by the Gatlin Brothers.

Featured guest speaker Brett Baier, the longtime Fox News anchor, will talk about his expansive career as an award-winning journalist covering politics, war zones and the White House.

Well have Brett Baier speaking on the big stage, Williams said. And well have some really interesting discussions on how the first amendment is playing a role in our lives today.

Inspiration for the event came from a survey the Freedom Forum produced a few years ago that found that "Americans have a great appreciation for the First Amendment, but really lack an understanding about what their First Amendment rights are," according to Jan Neuharth, chair and CEO of the Freedom Forum.

"We're really excited about this," she said. "Part of our vision is that everyone knows, understands, values and defends the First Amendment all 330 million Americans. And so to do that,, you meet people on different levels. Some people were very well versed in the First Amendment, and others may not know the freedoms contained therein, and so we really are excited about going around the country and meeting people where they are both geographically, physically and where they are in their knowledge about the First Amendment."

Neuharth added that the Discovery Park was the perfect place to kick off what she hopes will be an annual event.

"The Discovery Park of America just seems like a great place," she said. "It's in the center of America, and we love its mission the spirit of discovery and and inspiring people to see beyond. And in our polarized world these days, we really feel that our First Amendment freedoms fosters a way that people can talk to each other and see beyond our differences."

According to Williams, educating people on the first amendment, and getting people excited about their rights granted by it, lines up exactly with the goals of the Discovery Park.

The mission of Discovery Park is to inspire children and adults to see beyond, he said. So our mission is to make sure that anybody who leaves Discovery Park, leaves having been inspired to find out more about the world around them and everything that happens here. So it very much aligned well with what the team at the Freedom Forum are going to be doing this weekend.

The event Friday will welcome scores of local school children to enjoy a preview of the festivals offering, educating and exciting kids about the oft-misunderstood amendment with creative projects.

The students work will be displayed at the Discovery Park as a temporary installation at the festival.

The whole festival is designed to help people learn more about the five freedoms of the First Amendment, but in a fun and highly engaging way, Williams said. That's very much aligned with what we do every single day here at Discovery Park.

The festival is free to all, though pre-registration is required at discoveryparkofamerica.com/event/1afestival/.

Neuharth said that if she had to condense the goals of this festival into one sentence, it would be to help people understand that the First Amendment "belongs to them."

"People need to understand that First Amendment rights are their freedoms," she said. "The First Amendment belongs to the people, and our mission is to foster First Amendment freedoms for all people. The First Amendment is the way our country operates as a democracy.

"So we hope we can help empower people so they can understand those rights. They can affect change that they want to see happen in the world, and we want to empower them to know and understand these freedoms, and embrace them and use them to make their lives, their communities, and our democracy stronger."

Have a story to tell? Reach Angele Latham by email at alatham@gannett.com, by phone at 731-343-5212, or followher on Twitter at @angele_latham.

See more here:

Inaugural First Amendment Festival to bring celebrations to Union City - The Jackson Sun