Bentleyville has been starting to set up since September in order to prepare for the upcoming holiday season. 

During the time of setting up Bentleyville and the event itself lots of students have used this as volunteering hours to help.

Senior Samantha Mosack, who volunteered for her community service hours in September, helped out with lights and 10 of the arches. She went after school on a Friday to take apart the lights for 5 hours, and on the Saturday after she went for the whole day to put up the arches. 

“It felt nice to help out, and seeing how much time and effort is being put into it,” Mosack said. 

Bentleyville requires a lot of team work from volunteers to set up the entire thing from different schools and businesses. 

“I go to Bentleyville all the time, it’s like a family tradition,” Mosack said. 

Bentleyville is a popular tradition to experience in the winter time. 

Co-advisor of National Honors Society, Donna Stubbe, has students in NHS participate in this event and or choose another holiday event that they volunteer for. They’ve already had meetings to start up with volunteering. For helping with Bentleyville, NHS volunteers usually do the taking it down part. This happens during winter break, and students don’t miss school. It’s a great way to get community service hours, and help out. 

“We tend to see the outcome of Bentleyville, and never the community action behind the scenes,” Stubbe says.

Nathan Bentley, who was the founder of Bentleyville in 2003, is still helping with creating the magical event every year. 

“The students and I find it inspiring that Nathan Bentley is always up and running and energetic with Bentleyville,” Stubbe said. 

There are a few new things being added to Bentleyville this year from community help, so stay tuned and check it out this November 18th through December 26.