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It’s About Time column: Ghostwalk streaming on Oct. 22

Bill Kight
It’s About Time
Bill Kight

Last month’s column asked: “Can we count on you to tune in to the virtual Ghostwalk, and to contribute as generously as you have in the past? Stay tuned. As we work out the details, we’ll keep you posted.”

Now we’re calling the question. The details are coming together, and the Glenwood Springs Historical Society will stream the beloved annual Ghostwalk at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22.

Customarily, tickets go on sale Oct. 1 for what is our biggest annual fundraiser and signature event. This year we won’t be selling tickets.



Though our valley communities have not been hit as hard as some parts of the country in this pandemic, we are nonetheless struggling in many ways. There is a prevailing uncertainty that weighs heavily on the minds of many. The procedures and protocols we all follow have disrupted our everyday lives, and we are even confronted with our own mortality: Am I next?

Taking all of this discordance into consideration, our society has decided to offer the Ghostwalk as a one-time only event this year. Though it’s customarily our biggest fundraising event, this year there will be no requisite admission charge.



We’ll rely on the generosity of people like you, who choose to watch and support the event with a contribution. Please donate as you are called to and as you are able.

Some of you may be out of work, others one paycheck from being homeless and can’t afford the $25 a ticket would cost. Some of you could write a $1,000 check and not blink an eye.

I’ll be frank. Running a nonprofit is the weirdest thing I’ve ever been challenged to do, especially in these unusual times. The very word nonprofit is obtuse. With the “non” prefix, it even starts out negative. It gives the intrinsic impression that it isn’t supposed to make money. The ongoing challenge of making the income exceed the expenses can make a nonprofit operation feel like a beggar with a hand out all the time.

There are times when introducing myself as the executive director of the Glenwood Springs Historical Society and Frontier Museum that I wait for the question: “Where are you located?” Or the comment comes: “Oh yeah, you’re in that little old house down on the corner a block south of the post office.”

Because of that little old house on the corner, we are able to bring history to you in a number of ways. Our museum displays and archives are one way. This column is one way. Our Living History video series on the Post Independent’s web page is one way. And at 7 p.m. Oct. 22 we will present the Ghostwalk in a new and different way.

Let’s be honest. You couldn’t make up the stories people enjoy our “ghosts” telling through their portrayal of real-life characters buried in the Linwood Cemetery. Truth is indeed stranger than fiction.

Not everyone sees the value of history. History shows us how powerful it can be to overcome the challenges of being human. When we hear the stories of the lives of those who have lived before us, we see a reflection of ourselves, both who we are and who we want to become. Bringing history alive is fun for those who act out their characters and for those who hear history’s echoes from the past.

Join us. If our live streaming performance Oct. 22 is a distraction from current overwhelming, or much-needed, entertainment, either is OK with us.

Go to http://www.glenwoodhistory.com at 7 p.m. Oct. 22, and view the 20th annual Linwood Cemetery Ghostwalk. These days, where can you attend an event where the price of admission is what you can afford?

Bill Kight is the executive director of the Glenwood Springs Historical Society and writes a monthly column about history as well as contributes to Our Living History video series on the PI web page. He can be reached at 970-945-4448 or history@rof.net.


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