First, I’d like to give some love to my brother, Tim Mohler, whose birthday is Friday, Oct. 19. Happy birthday, Tim! He is 39 years young.

I also was recently reminded that he shares a birthday with my co-worker, Staff Writer Emily Hollingsworth, who is turning 25. Happy birthday, Emily!

Now I’d like to give some love to Buckingham County. It was an enjoyable experience covering the Bringing the Love to Buckingham event Saturday afternoon in Dillwyn. It was hosted by Buckingham Branch Railroad.

The event unveiled a cool new Love sign next to the train station, spelling out the word in a railroad-themed way. There were also train rides offered to those in attendance that gave an exceptional scenic tour.

I was consistently impressed by how many people traveled a good distance to be there, some spending a couple hours on the road one-way. An estimated 1,500 people attended the event.

It was an especially family-friendly event, something which became particularly apparent to me as I racked up photos of the happy families on hand, pre- and post-train ride.

Buckingham Branch Railroad Human Resources Manager Carrie Brown and the other organizers deserve a lot of credit for orchestrating such a successful event. The planning process was extensive.

“You have to be approved to do a Love sign, and you have to submit your design and where you want to place the sign for the state to approve it, and so I think that from conception to this weekend, it was at least 10 months to a year for us to get everything together,” Brown said.

She had a particular vision for how she wanted the event to be, and the participating vendors deserve praise for tailoring their approach to fit.

“I realize that they may need to sell things, of course, I didn’t expect everybody to do everything for free, but I wanted it to be the sort of event where families could come out … and not have to spend money if they didn’t have money to spend, because it was more about community, of being together and having a fun day,” Brown said. “… A lot of the businesses, they were able to do that. They had games to play, and they were giving away shoes and toys and things like that, so I was really pleased at that level of participation that we had as well.”

Lots of love to you and yours, Buckingham.

Titus Mohler is the sports editor for The Farmville Herald and Farmville Newsmedia, LLC. His email address is Titus.Mohler@FarmvilleHerald.com.