The stretch Hummer maneuvers carefully between the buildings, getting as close as it can to the main entrance where a knot of people wait expectantly. The big building at the Del Norte County Fairgrounds is already teeming with guests and volunteers; light and music pour from the open double doors. An older woman in a long gown steps from the Humvee and pauses to hike her dress up and show a friend her satin bloomers and fancy shoes. 

It’s Del Norte’s Night To Shine — an annual faith-based celebration for the special needs community, a community that doesn’t ordinarily have events like this thrown for them. Part of a worldwide celebration, the Night To Shine was founded in 2014 by the Tim Tebow Foundation, and is celebrated the Friday before Valentine’s Day in 800 cities across the United States, and in other locales as far-flung as Burkina Faso and the Philippines. 

Each Night To Shine follows the same script, as the Tebow foundation’s website explains: “Each event is unique to its location, but some cornerstone activities included across all of them are a red carpet entrance complete with a warm welcome from a friendly crowd and paparazzi, hair and makeup stations, shoeshines, limousine rides, karaoke, gifts, a catered dinner, a Sensory Room, a Respite Room for parents and caregivers, dancing, and a crowning ceremony where every guest is honored as a King or a Queen — the way God sees them each and every day.”