Menu
'Follow the Star' to share more blessings in Year Two
Get Vic Hunter started talking about blessings and his eyes light up.
No, not necessarily the blessings in his own life, though Vic and wife Linda are known to share these as well.
But the sharing of blessings has become an integral part of “Follow the Star,” the Christmas light show the Hunters shared with the public last year on their farm in southwestern Greencastle Township, Airy Knob.
As a narrated tour that follows the Magi on their trip to meet the Christ Child, the moment of sharing blessings was one of the more poignant in the 2021 inaugural edition of the journey.
The idea, as Vic Hunter explained at the time, was that early in the journey, each traveler would be given a gold coin which they would later have the opportunity to leave at Jesus’ manger.
At that point, there was also the chance to share a blessing with one another, in the form of cards aimed at children, spouses and others.
What Hunter did not foresee was exactly how moving the blessing would be for some people.
He recalls two older women who drove from Brazil and Crawfordsville, respectively, to meet each other and “walk as the Magi.”
They asked lots of questions throughout the journey, and as they were leaving, Hunter noticed they had handfuls of the blessing cards. While he did not mind what they were doing, he had to ask why.
“We’re going to the nursing home tomorrow,” they answered. “We know some people who need these.”
Hunter also remembers a mother kneeling with a small daughter, reading the blessing card with tears in her eyes, momentarily too moved to even stand back up.
“There were a number of moments like that,” Hunter said, “that made the whole experience worthwhile.”
Perhaps most surprising was how people continued to visit the event website at www.follow-the-star.org/ to receive blessings throughout the year.
While the event itself had about 750 visitors in 2021, in the months since the website has seen more traffic.
“The surprise was the number of people who stayed on during the year getting on the site and getting blessing cards,” Hunter said. “Since we shut down in January, we have had 823 people come on the site and get the blessing cards, and it wasn’t in one spurt.
“We’ve had more people come back and look at the page than participated in the event.”
The 2022 Follow the Star will open this Sunday, Nov. 27, and run through Dec. 28 on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 6-8 p.m. each night.
While following largely the same path this year, the Hunters are looking for new ways to be a blessing in the community this year.
One of these is to make the journey a bit more accessible for children.
Joyce Johnson, who formerly worked for Disney and formerly attended Bethel Baptist Church, approached Hunter about writing a different version of the script aimed at children. With Johnson’s script, written at a fifth-grade level, in hand, Brayden Garrison, a local home schooled fifth-grader, narrated the new scribe.
“The language and perspective on the family side is written at the fifth-grade level, which is a lot of fun,” Hunter said.
Now travelers through Follow the Star will have a choice between the adult version, which focuses on the scripture and history, and the family version, which is more experiential and observational.
Additionally, Hunter was contacted by a couple from California who was interested in adding to the blessings of the experience by giving blessing cards that children can present to their parents.
“I wouldn’t have thought of that,” Hunter said. “We didn’t have any on the kids’ side for them to give to their parents.”
Finally, there are some differences to the logistics of the 2022 event. While the inaugural event required reservations, the event is now simply open from 6-8 p.m. each Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. Those interested can park in the southern part of the Phoenix Closures parking lot and one of two buses will transport them down Manhattan Road to Airy Knob, then back when it’s all over.
Mostly, though, Hunter seems to value the human connections he’s made through it all.
DePauw student Emma Gillam was already helping with tech support when she offered to put together a poster for the event, which she finished in less than two days’ time.
Hunter has already distributed a number of these around the community.
Or there was the family that came through last year with the son telling Hunter that his dad worked for Duke Energy. The host told him that all the lights were powered by Duke.
Hunter said, furthermore, that sometimes if you snap your fingers, the lights will simply go out. (In truth, an app on Hunter’s smartphone controls them all.)
So the young man put it to the test.
“He snapped his finger, and I hit the button,” Hunter recalled with a laugh. “He went crazy. He grabbed his dad and said, ‘Turn the lights back on.’ He thought he really got in trouble.”
What better way to get into the Christmas spirit than to share blessings and laugh?