Saturday’s Family Summit would have been exciting enough for Hickman Mills Superintendent Yolanda Cargile simply for all the vendors that spread out across the gym at Smith-Hale Middle School.

“Look at the tables just packed with resources for our families!” she said to the crowd.

But the best part of this year’s version of the evolving annual fair was the way the school district pulled it together.

“Today, the Family Summit is planned and designed by parents,” Cargile said, and that helped the staff gather more service providers to meet district families’ needs.

“Our parents have been key in planning today’s event,” she said, “and that’s one thing we are truly proud of.”

In all, more than 200 families attended the summit, the district reported. They circulated among 75 vendors, enjoyed free lunch, let their children work on craft projects, watched student performances — and many families went home with raffle prizes provided by LINC.

The event strengthens families because they get to bond as a community, said Hickman Mills Deputy Superintendent Carl Skinner.

“Families make connections,” Skinner said. “We spend all year working on this (with parents), so even the planning process gets people together.”

Ruskin parent Terrika Evans left the three-hour summit with a raffle prize of Kansas City Chiefs lawn folding chairs in addition to all the “great information that was given,” she said.

“The people were awesome,” she said. “It was a great time. Next year I will be telling everyone.”

In addition to the raffle prizes, LINC helped the summit by providing staff to run crafts classrooms for children and other programs during the event.

“We do it,” said LINC Caring Communities Site Coordinator Bryan Geddes, “to support the schools, the businesses, the families, and create a tight-knit environment where families have all the resources they need and feel safe in the Hickman Mills caring community.”