According to all the comments received Saturday night and email messages since, our "First Annual" Candlelight Walk-in-the-Woods was a resounding success! People loved everything about it ... the ice candles, the groomed trails, the welcoming fire pits, hot chocolate, hot 'cider', s'mores and the crisp-but-not-too-cold and clear night with very visible star-shine and moonlight.
Thanks go to our Scout partners who helped make ice luminaria and set them out on the trails for us, to Mike Gies and the City DPW workers who also made luminaria, groomed the trails, cut tree stumps to serve as seating around the fire pits, and created spaces in the snow for the pits, and to our Interact Club from Homestead who helped greet walkers and pour hot beverages. Thanks also to all our Club members who helped in so many ways ... especially setting up in the morning, monitoring fire pits & covering all the 'host' duties throughout the evening, and cleaning up at the end. It took many hands to make the work reasonably light for all.
On top of creating a very fine community event that attracted around 400 individuals ... lots of families with kids ... we received donations totaling $720 to help us bring the Grazing Goat Crew back for more buckthorn push-back.