Saturday was a good day in Columbia and Marion County as the community pulled together to show how much it cares.
Gentry Day was a success with hundreds of people gathering to encourage and raise funds for young cancer patient Gentry Terrell and her family.
It was impressive to see both the number of attendees and the number of people helping organize, from manning booths to serving up concessions to even men donning dresses and strutting their stuff on stage for the womanless beauty pageant.
The shift from City Park to the Expo Center because of weather turned out well, thanks to the hard work of many volunteers. Kudos to all those who helped make a little girl feel special; their actions helped prove why Columbia is a great place to live.
On the south end of the county, local volunteers joined with historical reenactors from throughout the country for the John Ford Encampment.
It drew a lot of people to the area who wouldn’t otherwise come here, and also provided an outlet for cultural learning. Children and others could find out how soldiers lived during the Civil War and then go straight to dancing in a traditional Choctaw ceremony.
In our age where many young people think that all that matters in life is contained within the confines of a cellphone, it’s important to expose them to the broader world where they can see and touch real — not digitally rendered — things.
Overall, it was a family friendly weekend that served as a reminder of why smalltowns hold great quality-of-life benefits that sometimes get overlooked.
— Charlie Smith
