Four Vienna-area organizations hosted the annual Empowering Women, Celebrating the 19th Amendment mixer and panel discussion on Wednesday at the Vienna Community Center, 120 Cherry St. SE.

The free event, which the Vienna Business Association billed as the sixth annual gathering, featured a community mixer from 5:45 to 6:30 p.m. followed by a panel discussion on women's empowerment and voting rights.

Mayor Linda Jane Colbert delivered welcoming remarks and served as a panelist, according to the town's official event listing. Anne Stuntz, president of Historic Vienna, Inc., moderated.

The panel brought together women with deep roots in civil rights, media and local history. Paula Young Shelton, a teacher and author, is the daughter of civil rights leader and former U.S. Ambassador Andrew Young. She was carried on her father's back during the 1965 Selma to Montgomery March and later wrote the children's book "Child of the Civil Rights Movement." Shelton taught first grade at Georgetown Day School in Washington, D.C., for 20 years.

Judy Plavnick Kiley, a six-time Emmy Award-winning producer based in Arlington, previously led production and development at ESPN Classic and executive-produced Discovery Channel shows including "MythBusters." She runs Sit. Good Girl Productions in Washington.

Leigh Kitcher, Historic Vienna's treasurer and producer of the exhibit "Getting the Vote: The Women's Rights Movement," rounded out the panel.

The mixer portion included food, drinks, an icebreaker activity and door-prize drawings from local businesses. Emmaus United Church of Christ hosted a nonpartisan "Get Out the Vote" station where attendees could write postcards to potential voters with polling-place information, according to the event program.

The event was co-presented by the Vienna Baha'i Faith Community, Historic Vienna, Inc., the Town of Vienna, and the Vienna Business Association. Registration was free through the Vienna Business Association website.