As usual, our area does things right. A shining example is the Pumpkin Glow held over Halloween weekend at Cummins Nature Preserve.

Hundreds of Jack-O-Lanterns adorned a trail lined with trees making their transition from Summer to Fall. Guests were afforded a feast for the senses comprised of a crisp Autumn night, crunching leaves, and the soft glow of delightfully decorated winter squash.

Having been a part of events like the Pumpkin Glow over the years, I know they are not one-person operations. Just take a look at the wonderful group of people who made this year’s Glow possible:

Father Andrew Young, Karen Heller and Saint Patrick PTO and School, Shannon Roberts and the Mason County High School FCCLA, Stephanie Martinez, Jill Grutza and Girl Scout Troop 7401, Sarah Winter, Reverend Gordon Jones, Maysville Younger Women’s Club and Kathy Peterson Bess, Richard Newberry, Knights of Columbus, Kathryn Felice, Carla Vonderhaar, Noah Kalb, Wanda Felice, Darryl Kalb and the Washington Volunteer Fire Department, Kevin Ormes, Mike Walton, Tom Jett and the Maysville Lions Club, Peter Chamness, Mason County Road Department, Dwight Crank, Sondra Felice, Sarah Stamm, the Bracken County Cooperative Extension Service, and our media partners at The Ledger Independent, WFTM Radio and Limestone Cablevision.

Last, but definitely not least, a big thank you to Park Manager Grant Felice, who has put his heart and soul into making Cummins Nature Preserve a haven for hikers and nature lovers from all over.

The Pumpkin Glow would not have been possible without these selfless, wonderful people. And, of course, the thousands of guests who patronized the Glow. I was posted at the trail entrance and had the pleasure of watching families of all ages enter the Pumpkin Glow, anticipation on their faces.

There were the first-timers who had never attended a Glow before. The visitors who enjoyed the first Glow held at the Preserve in 2019 and wanted to see any new additions this year. And the folks who had gone trick-or-treating and wanted to cap off a fun night with the kids on a high note.

Proceeds this year benefited the ION Center for Violence Prevention, a group that provides much-needed aid for those who are going through the trauma of domestic violence.

How many of you remember Rudd’s Christmas Farm in Blue Creek, Ohio? It was a valley literally filled top to bottom with holiday displays, a petting zoo, and lots of music to get one into the yuletide mood. It would be wonderful to see the Glow grow to that scale, so that future generations can look back and tell their kids about the family tradition of visiting the Cummins Nature Preserve Pumpkin Glow.

Every year, people make a Thanksgiving or Christmas toast exhorting people to treat every day like it was a holiday of kindness and remembrance. Maysville and Mason County makes it happen. There are too many benefit events that go on year-round to name them all. Still, it is nice to take a moment from time to time to say a heart-felt “thank you” for all the good these events do.

The generosity of the people in this area is one of the reasons Maysville and Mason County is the Center of the Known Universe.