Looking for Josh

I Went There Looking for Josh.

~ KELLY MIFSUD

Published on Kelly's Facebook Page • September 19, 2023

I don’t know that I said much when Josh Butters passed away 5 years ago, but he has been heavy on my mind recently. Maybe it has to do with this time of year and the nostalgia I often feel, or maybe it has to do with a large shift I have been going through in my personal and professional growth, resulting in my looking back at my former self, life and relationships. Who’s to say really? All I know is that I have felt his presence. 

My best friend from college drove up from Philadelphia last weekend for a photo session and said she was drawn to book a room and have me take photos at City Hall Grand Hotel. She wound up reserving a space on the third floor, designed and built by Josh, not knowing there was any sort of connection. When Josh’s sister Maranda found out, she insisted on giving me a tour of the building, and yesterday that’s what I did. 

I did not go to City Hall Grand specifically to photograph the rooms, I went there looking for Josh. I felt like he had called me in. This was his way of helping and inspiring me with Kelly Ann M Photography when I needed it most. You may not get it, and that’s fine. My words, thoughts and way of storytelling aren’t typical. 

Josh wasn’t typical. Like [this photograph], he was a mixture of dark with light. Moody and loving. Rough and tender. He would tell me to shut up and stop crying about something and then 20 minutes later he’d write me a poem. He was a genius and an artist, always creating something stunning out of an object someone else may cast aside. 

If you have not stayed at City Hall Grand, you need to. I cannot believe there is a place as incredible as this one located right here in Williamsport.

Josh once told me, “If we are going to choose to live here, we need to make it beautiful.” And that he did.

You may not physically see him in these photographs, but he is everywhere. He is in every detail. I can see his mark in every paint color, bed frame, doorway, table, mirror - every piece of furniture and bit of interior design he dreamed up and breathed life into.

I see him, right down to the handprint he left behind.

It all says: 

Josh was here.

And it's beautiful.

The Butters Family would like to thank Kelly for this beautiful tribute to Joshua P. Butters, the creative genius behind the "Hulk" Industrial Rooms and Third Floor Lobby here at the City Hall Grand Hotel.  We miss him more than words can say.