There was a time — not all that long ago, really — when many people in Wheeling would not have imagined an event such as the Ogden Wellness Weekend bringing thousands of residents together in celebration across so many corners of the city.

More importantly, there also was a time when few would have imagined runners and walkers making their way enthusiastically through the neighborhood now known as Wheeling Heights, cheered on by residents as they took part this past Sunday in the Tough as Nails Urban Challenge.

Perhaps nowhere is the transformation of community spirit more visible than in the area of Wheeling once known primarily for the Grandview Manor housing complex.

For many longtime Ohio Valley residents, the name “Grandview Manor” carries difficult associations. The area struggled with poverty, crime and a lack of investment. Too many outsiders viewed the neighborhood only through its challenges, rather than through the lens of the families that lived there, raised children there and cared deeply about their community.

But communities can evolve. People change them. Families change them.

Today, Wheeling Heights stands as a success story for Wheeling and one of the clearest reminders that real progress rarely comes without hard work and community buy-in. It comes through years of steady effort from residents, churches, volunteers, police officers, city officials, nonprofit organizations and ordinary citizens that simply refuse to give up on their home.

It comes through people deciding they want something better for themselves, their children and their grandchildren.

And perhaps the best proof of that progress comes from moments when the community binds together to welcome those taking part in the Tough as Nails Urban Challenge.

After participants ascended hundreds of steps Sunday from East Wheeling, they were greeted with encouragement. Residents waved from porches. Families came outside or to the Grandview Pool to cheer. Children watched with excitement, perhaps pondering a day when they could take part.

Then there is the Watson family just down the road from Wheeling Heights, which has volunteered over the past several years to man an aid station along the course, offering water, encouragement and support to exhausted competitors tackling one of the event’s most difficult stretches.

That matters.

Community pride is essential for this area to move forward. It grows when people decide they want visitors to feel welcome in their neighborhood. It grows when residents choose to become participants in something larger than themselves. That spirit is exactly what makes events such as the Ogden Wellness Weekend successful — and one of the key reasons why Wheeling Heights, with its pastel-colored homes, its manicured lawns and also its beautiful views over our city, has transformed from an area many chose to stay away from two decades ago to one that now adds a vibrancy to Wheeling.

The neighborhood is no longer simply a place people talk about from a distance. Through events such as Tough as Nails, it has become a place people experience firsthand. They see residents smiling and cheering. They see pride in homes and streets. They see families investing in their community.

Most importantly, they see neighbors.

That may sound simple, but at a time when so much of the conversation centers on division, distrust and decline, there is something encouraging about watching a community come together for something positive.

No city becomes stronger through cynicism. Communities grow stronger when people show up for one another.

That is what the Ogden Wellness Weekend represents at its best. Not merely fitness or competition, but connection — a chance for neighborhoods to show their love for the place they live.

John McCabe is editor of The Intelligencer and Wheeling News-Register. From 9-10 a.m. each Friday, he joins Howard Monroe on AM 1600 WKKX to discuss the most pressing issues in Wheeling and the Ohio Valley. He can be reached at jmccabe@theintelligencer.net.