This weekend has been one to remember for alumni of John T. Morgan Academy, as the school celebrated its 50th anniversary.

The weekend of festivities started Friday night with homecoming and continued Saturday with a concert at the Selma Riverfront Amphitheater.

“There were so many alums that came local and as well as from out of town. We’ve never done anything like that before, so people were thrilled to see each other,” said Lauren Henry, who helped coordinate the celebration and is an alumni herself.

Saturday night’s celebration featured a lineup of three acts, all with ties to Selma. Destiny Brown, who graduated from Morgan Academy in 2008, opened the night.

“I was kind of nervous at first when they asked me [to perform] because I’ve been to pep rallies and stuff, but to play for this many people that have graduated from Morgan, I just think it is cool that we all came together,” Brown said.

Brown, who lives in Gulf Shores now, said she drove up to spend the weekend celebrating the anniversary and talking about the good old days.

“It is really cool to see a lot of people I know and a lot of people I’ve heard of that graduated from Morgan, and I’ve never been to this venue, and it is a really nice place to have an event like this,” Brown said before taking the stage.

Dallas Dorsey and the Rails were the headliner, but Telluride took the stage after Brown to perform for the alumni.

“They are a favorite band from Morgan alums,” Henry said.  “They have some Selma roots, and in fact, I talked to Rick Carter who is the lead singer, and he said that it has been 17 years since he has been back in Selma playing, and he is really glad to be back here.”

While there were plenty of fun memories for the alumni to share, there were also sad ones. Around 95 students and graduates who have passed away since Morgan’s founding were honored with a sky lantern release between acts.

“It’s really special. Those people, the memories of them, we miss them so much, especially with things like this where we all get together,” Henry said. “It’s just a way for us to show our friends and our family that their memories are still alive and we cherish our memories with them.”