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Light, Labor, and Learning

by Ryan Stone
Mike "Buzz" Bickel, Jr., torques a wrench trying to free a rusted oxygen sensor from an Acura at Bickel Brothers Auto Sales in West Point. Mike co-owns the business with his cousin.

From dawn’s early light along the Ohio River, to the muscular twist of a mechanic’s wrench, and the strains of flute music floating from a high school band room, Hardin County offers nearly endless opportunities to explore the beauty nearby. Brilliant with fall color, the gentle curves of the landscape are graphically intersected with streams and fence lines. Residents —from the full-grown to the still-growing — value hospitality, opening their homes, businesses, and lives to visitors who seek to understand the rich mix of tradition and creativity that drives the growing bustle of Elizabethtown and it’s surrounding communities.

Mike Bickel looks over paperwork in the office of Bickel Brothers Auto Sales in West Point. Bickel Brothers, which began operating in 1998, had just started making a profit before the financial crisis hit. The Bickels were forced to downsize and move to a smaller lot to save the business. Now Mike Bickel Jr. said it's making profit and doing better than it ever.
A plant across the Ohio River from West Point belches steam in the early morning.
Kyle Goatley stands by himself as a group of band mates practice in the North Hardin High School gym before a football game.
Mike "Buzz" Bickel Jr. talks with a customer on the used car lot at Bickel Brothers Auto Sales in West Point. Bickel, has co-owned the business with his cousin Mike Bickel since 1998. Mike Bickel started the business with the sale of two cars in his front yard.
A horse grazes at sunset at Fords Crossing on West Lincoln Trail in Radcliff.