David Sibray
West Virginia’s Birthday social campaign last week reached more than 26 million social media users, thanks to thousands of fans of West Virginia who shared their love of the state. The state is top-of-mind for travelers this summer, thanks to record-breaking participation in the West Virginia Tourism Office’s West Virginia Week Challenge, according to Commissioner … Read more
Fayette County officials are set to unveil on Saturday the region’s first community farm, an agricultural initiative designed to support sustainable development. To occupy the historic Whitlock Farm on W.Va. 16 two miles south of Fayetteville, West Virginia, the project will provide for community gardens, a local food distribution site, sustainable farming educational opportunities, vocational … Read more
Historical figures from Mark Twain to Sacagawea will visit West Virginia state parks on weekends this summer as part of the West Virginia Humanities Council’s History Alive! program. These living-history portrayals by scholars will provide a passage through time for student and adult audiences, according to Paulita Cousin, a naturalist at Blackwater Falls State Park … Read more
Organizers of the 57th annual art and craft fair at Ripley, West Virginia, have returned the landmark event to the July 4 weekend, during which the town and fairground become one of the most celebrated destinations in the Mountain State. After a two-year experiment during which the fair was held in September—a move intended to … Read more
It may have been more than 200 years since the thunder of native drums echoed across the vale of the Cheat River in the Allegheny Mountains. That will change October 5-6 when organizers of the “We Are Still Here” pow-wow welcome what they expect to be hundreds of guests to celebrate West Virginia’s Native American … Read more
Rural Sistersville, West Virginia, might seem a curious place for a village of high-style architecture, but then the oil rush that brought prosperity here in the 1890s was nothing less than exceptional. Folks had always assumed black gold bubbled beneath the hills, but it wasn’t until an enterprising farmer learned the trick to drilling there … Read more
Lonely Hero Games, a new board game development company founded by two Beckley natives, has launched its first game, “Bank Heist” on the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter. Jared Kaplan and Christopher Kincaid grew up in Beckley, where Kaplan still resides, while Kincaid moved to Morgantown. Kaplan says the pair believe that creating and launching their company … Read more
Artists in downtown Beckley, West Virginia, have engaged more than 40 partners in BEX, a remarkable collaborative exhibition set for June 22-30 that includes workshops, installations, a film festival, a maker’s fair, and an oddities-and-curiosities bazaar. More than 35 events—including a “human library,” three camera obscuras, and a smell-o’-vision demonstration—have been arranged to underscore diversity … Read more
The West Fork River is fast becoming one of the state’s most exciting destinations for kayak fishing, according to a spokesman for a river-restoration organization hosting its second annual float trip June 1. “I don’t think most people realize what we have here,” says John Ciesla, president of Guardians of the West Fork, which launched … Read more
Boasting fairies, mermaids, unicorns, and a real elephant, the West Virginia Renaissance Festival is ideal for families with children, according to organizers who say they’re expecting traffic to double during this, its second year. Set for four weekends in June in the Greenbrier Valley near Lewisburg, West Virginia, the 2019 festival is set in an … Read more
