Legacies in the Stars

“I lit a fire with the love you left behind
And it burned wild and crept up the mountainside
I followed your ashes into outer space
I can't look out the window, I can't look at this place.

I can't look at the stars
They make me wonder where you are
Stars, up on Heaven's boulevard
And if I know you at all,
I know you've gone too far
So I, I can't look at the stars.

All those times we looked up at the sky
Looking out so far, we felt like we could fly
And now I'm all alone in the dark of night
The moon is shining but I can't see the light.”

Excerpt from the song “Stars,” written by Mad River Valley native Grace Potter to honor
the five lives lost

***

December visitors to the Mad River Valley are welcomed with an abundance of 5-pointed lighted stars lining the roadways and decorating houses and barns. The stars come in all sizes, with varying levels of craftsmanship. Many are constructed of fallen branches stripped of their leaves and nailed or roped together, with white holiday lights wrapped hodge-podge-style around the limbs. Other stars are more precisely constructed, with sawed wooden slats and lights wrapped around them with consistent spacing. This mishmash of stars adds magic and merriment to the Valley and welcomes the holiday season with their twinkling light.

But the more observant Valley visitors will notice that the stars all seem to come in groups
of five. Here’s why.

On a horrific October night in 2016, five young adults from the Valley were killed when a madman speeding the wrong way on Route 89 smashed headlong into their car as they were coming home from a concert in Burlington. Five children. Five bright lights, full of love and promise, gone in an instant.

There is no recovery from the loss of these young people, but the stars serve as a reminder of each child’s dazzling light. Just as we look to the stars in the sky and marvel at the magnitude of the universe, so can we look at the hundreds of stars dotting the Valley landscape and find comfort in the love and community that placed them there.

Photo credit: MRV Chamber of Commerce