Sometimes things in life happen that disrupt all of our best-laid plans. These things can force us to drastically rearrange our priorities in the short term or long term. In either of those time frames, they may also leave us wondering when life will return to something resembling the normalcy we once enjoyed.

Because of these realities that we all can relate to, we would like to commend organizers of both the recent Autumn Days festival and the Kenbridge Fire Department (KFD) Open House for their hard work that brought the community a welcome bit of normalcy in the wake of Tropical Storm Michael.

The storm took much of the Heart of Virginia by surprise, bringing down trees and power lines, causing property damage and leaving many without power. While Hurricane Florence had all of the hype and little impact in the area, Michael had little advance fanfare and a significant impact.

But despite the obstacles the storm may have posed to them, Victoria Town Manager Rodney Newton and KFD Fire Chief Richard W. Harris helped see to it that their respective annual events went on as scheduled.

Newton estimated that between 500 and 750 people turned out for Autumn Days throughout the day Saturday, Oct. 13.

“I feel that this year’s event was a huge success,” he said. “The planning team for the event did an excellent job to provide the community with the event.”

The festival was also supported by beautiful weather, and Newton said the proceedings “allowed citizens and visitors to breathe a sigh of relief and have a day of enjoyment.”

Harris noted that this was the 20th year of the KFD Open House, and the event drew nearly 300 people.

“It was a nice turnout,” he said. “We were pleased with it.”

Both events were great opportunities for families to enjoy time together and for a community to enjoy fellowship together, whether it had power on back home or not.