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FROM STAFF REPORTS / Editorial

Finding ways to persevere is what makes humanity great. Throughout 2020, we’ve dealt with one of the more difficult periods of our lifetime, but that has paved the way for perseverance.

Doctors, nurses, first responders and others have helped lead us through the COVID-19 pandemic, putting their lives on the line each day, but we’ve also seen humanity do its job.

There’s a lot of negativity out there right now during the fight against this virus as well as the current lead up to the General Election on Nov. 3 with political biases, which leads to a lot of the good getting buried.

But leading up to Halloween, we’ve seen more positives than we have in a while right here in Shelby County, and it’s all due to a community supporting one another.

In Helena, one of the more fun surprises of the year was started by three employees at the local Golden Rule BBQ restaurant.

Lydia Edwards, Katie Jones and Cody Pace randomly started placing decorated pumpkins around the city one day.

Bored one day, the three got together after work to carve pumpkins, but after they were done decorating them, they didn’t know what they wanted to do with them.

“Cody wanted to destroy them, but me and Kattie wanted to place them somewhere randomly,” Edwards said.

And that’s where the great pumpkin mystery of Helena began.

Residents of the city noticed them starting to pop up and talk of the pumpkins around town swept across the city like a wildfire.

After originally doing it just for fun, Edwards, Jones and Pace realized how much people were enjoying them as well as wondering whodunit, that they decided to start placing more of them around town.

It became a sensation in Helena.

Not only were residents wondering who placed the pumpkins around town, but it was a distraction from everything else going on right now.

During Halloween, especially, it has given the community a sense of normality, seeing decorated pumpkins around town to get in the festive spirit of the holiday.

Similar fun is happening in other cities around the county, including upcoming Halloween events in almost every city as well as Pelham’s Scarecrows in the Park.

Residents have been making scarecrows with different settings and displaying them in Pelham City Park as part of a contest to see who can create the best scarecrow.

It’s brought out creative minds, while also adding a special touch to Halloween.

Through all of these different events, projects and ideas, we see one common trend—lifting others up through selfless fun.

It’s good to see people across the county having fun again and enjoying the holiday season, and it’s the first of three in a row, so the possibilities are endless with Thanksgiving and Christmas still ahead.