 In 2019, myself and two other friends traveled to Johnstown, Pennsylvania with the goal of hearing as many stories as possible about the lives of the people who are trying to bring the town back to greatness. Cambria County, Johnstown's county, represents exactly the population that Donald Trump claims to be his target audience. Hello Johnstown, thank you very much, this is going to be a great evening. A former industrial hub seemingly abandoned by the modern American economy in a region that Trump is trying desperately hard to win. In 2012, Cambria County swung slightly Republican, but Trump won uncomfortably in 2016, making the county one of his strongholds in the state. Now to be fair, most people that we spoke to didn't really care that much to talk about national politics due to the polarizing nature of the 2016 election and Trump's election. The few that did mention the election didn't have many compliments for Trump. Johnstown is however not representative of the entire county, and given the Republican lean in 2016, it is likely but not certain to go red this year as well. Regardless of who wins the election, one thing was made absolutely clear by the citizens of Johnstown. They aren't waiting around for some president to come in and rescue their town. They are taking matters into their own hands. As long as this holds true, Johnstown certainly seems to be on the up and up, regardless of the results of the election. Throughout the past few years, Johnstown has seen a number of new businesses open up downtown with a focus on social justice. One such business that we had the pleasure of speaking to is Hope Cycler, a local bike shop downtown. The shop's owner, Jared Bunk, told us the story about how he removed with his two hands the piles of dirt in the old wood flooring that covered up the previously blighted property. Now the shop is beautiful and ready for business. Still, while the success of the shop is important to Bunk, the real goal that Bunk holds is the ambitious plan to create a donation system for people to donate bikes to give them to people who wouldn't normally have access to transportation. He tells us this story about how he gave one such bike to an individual who then was able to go from one edge of the city to the other in a single business day, something that he had previously never been able to do before. Back coupled with Bunk's idea to create a donation system for kids where they could receive these bikes and actually enjoy the new outdoor recreation amenities that are now available in the city, Bunk's ultimate goal is to help revitalize the region and to give people access to transportation that they normally would not have. We really enjoyed hearing Bunk's story and we have no doubt that Hope Cycler will be a success in downtown Johnstown and will lead to a greater revitalization of the region. In fact, if you're interested, you should check Bunk out at Hope Cyclery on Instagram. Johnstown's story today is all about businesses channeling the resilience of their steel heritage into projects that serve the greater Johnstown community. We had the honor of interviewing one such group called the Center for Metal Arts or CMA, a premier blacksmithing school in Johnstown that was actively engaged in the recent community development efforts that we were witnessing. Started by passionate educators and blacksmiths Dan Neville and Patrick Quinn, CMA attracted students from all over the world, including Norway and Canada for their blacksmithing courses. Quinn and Neville forged the tools actually that their students learned with, providing a hands-on experience for their students. Personally, I enjoyed photographing their machine shop and the classes the most. At the time, I was learning different aspects of lighting and their shop was the perfect trial run. I was just amazed by the history and grandeur etched into these mills. But what really got us was their vision for what was beyond just blacksmithing. They imagined the space to be one day used for international conferences for curious blacksmithers. They were building dorms for students to inject a spirit of community, something very unique to Johnstown. And it was a beautiful coincidence when at the end of a project, Carlos, Elliot and I actually watched them win a grant award for their community efforts in Johnstown's redevelopment and the grant that they received for their ongoing work. They represent the Johnstown of tomorrow and we cannot wait to see what they do next. Johnstown loves its sports. More specifically, Johnstown loves its baseball. The Martellus Pharmacy are Johnstown's foremost amateur baseball team and compete every year in the national triple ABA baseball tournament held in the city. Every year, Johnstown plays and every year, Johnstown loses. That is until 2018 when the pharmacies won their first triple ABA title in 74 years. You see this guy? His name is Boston Bradley and he was part of the historic team in 2018. When he speaks about what winning an amateur baseball tournament meant to the town, it is clear that the community is close-knit and fiercely proud to be from western Pennsylvania. Cambria County might be quite split on the issue of politics, but baseball is certainly the one thing that brings all inhabitants of Johnstown together under one roof. We actually got to see the 2019 edition of the baseball tournament in person as it occurred while we were there. Pageantry, sportsmanship, intensity, and camaraderie were all present in full force throughout the entirety of the tournament. Funny enough, we were actually there during the opening game and we actually managed to catch one of the game balls. Nice little memento, huh? That's it, that's it!