Whitney Downard / The Meridian StarEight-year-old Jaden McLellan, left, and Jayne Curtis, 9, paint their masks at the Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience on Sunday. 

Two-year-old Kyson Drake fiercely gripped every marker in the box, mixing brown with green and blue on a face mask as a souvenir from his visit to the Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience on Sunday. 

Kyson and his two brothers joined their parents for a quiet Sunday tour during the Max opening weekend. His father, Daniel Drake, said that being a premature infant had in no way hindered his focus and creativity. 

“He’s a very creative kid and this lets his mind explore,” Daniel Drake said. 

Walking through, the Drake family discovered so much more than they’d bargained for, learning about artists from their home state.

“I knew about Oprah because in high school, during Mississippi History, we had posters with Elvis, Morgan Freeman, Britney Spears and her,” Drake said. “So I knew a lot. But Darth Vader? I didn’t know about him.”

For the Ward family, it gave them a chance to explore what they could do together.

“We’ve learned a lot… the puzzle is what really got me. Because there are so many hidden things in were inside the puzzle… and we all worked together and it was so much fun,” mother Sylvia Ward said.

The Ward family completed a floor stacking puzzle where different sides depict different artworks by Mississippi artists.

“They told us that we were the first ones to put the puzzle together,” Ward said. “So that felt pretty awesome.”

Ward said her father from Gulfport had even made the trip to check out the Max. 

“As we came out to the museum and see that we can do something with everybody, it’s pretty cool,” Ward said.