to the Blue Ribbon Team
…and to our new home in beautiful Johnstown, Pennsylvania
It feels good to say that out loud — we’re home.
After years of wandering, reviewing, and rambling, the Blue Ribbon Team has found its new base in Johnstown, PA, a town that refuses to quit no matter what history throws at it.
People love to talk about Johnstown like it’s a ghost of its past — but spend five minutes here and you’ll see that couldn’t be further from the truth. This valley has been destroyed by flood three times — in 1889, 1936, and 1977 — each one a disaster that could have ended a lesser place. The first wiped out the city and took more than 2,200 lives, the second drowned it again during the Great Depression, and the third hit just as the steel and manufacturing backbone of America began to collapse.
Each time, the people of Johnstown dug out, rebuilt, and carried on. That’s not just resilience — that’s a town every bit as strong as the mountains it’s nestled in.
This town wears its scars proudly. You can see them in the stone retaining walls, in the monuments, and in the faces of folks who still open their shops every morning. It’s beautiful from one end to the other — a place built and rebuilt by hand, by heart, and by habit.
What’s Next for the Blue Ribbon Team
Enough cheerleading. Time to get back to work.
We’re relaunching with a bigger crew and a wider lens, bringing together a handful of writers who see this region — and the world — from very different corners of the same road.
- Heather Dean writes from the heart of small-town life. Her essays are soft-spoken celebrations of everyday comfort — coffee, kindness, and the quiet satisfaction of keeping a good home. She’s our reminder that small joys are still big deals.
- Nathaniel Leery brings the reflective, Jeffersonian tone that keeps us honest. His columns bridge markets and morality, exploring how community, work, and conscience still fit together in a post-industrial world.
- Sid Fishes, the Gen-X voice of Pittsburgh, covers culture, music, and motion — from basement shows to barroom philosophy. He’s the pulse and the playlist of the Alleghenies.
Together they round out the Team — different voices, one map.
Expect new “Riding Down This Road” videos, thoughtful reviews, and our continuing obsession with architecture, bridges, and rust-belt beauty. Between the ironwork and the hills, there’s no shortage of stories to tell.
And speaking of bridges — oh my God, the bridges. Iron, truss, pony, covered, double-span — they’re everywhere. Western Pennsylvania might be the best bridge-hunting country in America. If you’re into 19th-century ironwork or mid-century industrial design, you’ll be at home here right along with us.
Between those bridges and the 150-year-old homes that line nearly every hill and hollow, the man-made world around Johnstown is a living museum — and we’re going to document every inch of it.
Stick Around
We’re starting fresh, in the right place, at the right time. If you love old steel, good food, odd stories, and the kind of beauty that only comes from survival, you’re in the right place too.
Welcome (back) to the Blue Ribbon Team.
Let’s go explore.
We Will Be Right Here – A Gift to Johnstown
This artwork is being released as an open-source print by the Cernunnos Foundation and Blue Ribbon Team — a small thank-you to the city that never quits.
Johnstown has been destroyed by flood three times and rebuilt three times. Its spirit is carved into stone, steel, and the stubborn hills that hold it up.
This image — “We Will Be Right Here” — is free to download, print, and share. Hang it in your shop, your office, your window, or your classroom. It’s for everyone who calls this valley home, and everyone who understands what it means to keep standing.
Download: 12×12 in, 300 dpi PNG (open source)
Use: Personal, civic, educational, or even commercial — no restrictions, just respect.
Because this city isn’t a ghost of its past — it’s a promise to the future.