Fairs and Festivals Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

WIC Sign Ups Available At Fairs, Festivals This Summer

In an effort to take more information to the public, staff from the West Virginia Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, better known as West Virginia WIC, are heading out to fairs and festivals in local communities this summer.

It’s not always easy to know where to go and what to do when you are applying for government aid.

As part of an ongoing effort to modernize services and remove barriers to accessing WIC benefits, the West Virginia WIC program will utilize an online participant portal to accept applications.

“Fairs and festivals are an opportunity for WIC staff to meet families in the community while highlighting the support and public health services available through WIC clinics,” said Jamie Wilkinson, outreach coordinator for West Virginia WIC’s Office of Nutrition Services. “We look forward to seeing new faces as well as those who have been a part of the WIC program since their pregnancy and child’s birth.”

Local West Virginia WIC agencies will host children’s activities, diaper changing stations and mother’s lounge for infant feeding, and free farmers markets while enrolling eligible families at the following events. Dates listed indicate West Virginia WIC staff presence; some events extend for additional days.

July:

Marshall County Fair (July 24-30)

Jackson County Jr. Fair (July 28-29)

WV Hot Dog Festival (July 29)

August:

Tri-County Fair (August 3-5)

Braxton County Fair (August 1-5)

Berkeley County Youth Fair (August 5-12)

WV State Fair (August 10-19)

Town and Country Days (August 14-19)

Parkersburg Homecoming (August 18-19)

September:

Italian Heritage Festival (September 1-3)

Beckley Kids Classic Festival (September 9)

Preston County Buckwheat Festival (Sept 28-30)

Autumn Fest (Sept 30)

For more information about West Virginia WIC, visit dhhr.wv.gov/WIC. To view and apply for DHHR careers, visit dhhr.wv.gov/Pages/Career-Opportunities.aspx.

Comedy Festival Returns To Morgantown

A weekend of comedy kicks off Thursday in Morgantown. Now in its second year, the Red Eye Comedy Festival not only highlights the state’s nascent comedy community, but is also attracting national talent to the region.

Reporter Chris Schulz sat down with festival organizer Cody Cannon to discuss the event.

A weekend of comedy kicks off Thursday in Morgantown. Now in its second year, the Red Eye Comedy Festival not only highlights the state’s nascent comedy community but is also attracting national talent to the region.

Reporter Chris Schulz sat down with festival organizer Cody Cannon to discuss the event.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Schulz: What exactly is the Red Eye Comedy Festival?

Cannon: Just basically a celebration of everything the comedy community has done over the past few years here in downtown Morgantown with a couple of lead up shows across the state. The festival itself is held in downtown Morgantown, multiple venues bringing some of my favorite nationally touring talent starting Thursday, March 30. Friday, Saturday, April 1 is the all-day comedy and beer festival just like we did last year at Morgantown Brewing Company. Eddie Pepitone is doing a late-night show at 123, closing out the whole festival. I did my best to make it a really great deal and experience for those who want to attend.

Schulz: This is your second year doing this now. What goes into an independent festival?

Cannon: Everything I’ve done has been super independent and also my first time doing anything like this stuff. I’m just kind of piecing things together as I go along and figuring out what works.

I need to first reach out to potential headliners and lock those in, try to find a diverse group of people. I also do my festival submission-based. All of the local and regional I try to give them a little more favor because they put a lot of work into the community and stuff. But I also want to highlight people around Appalachia and the country in general. If people are interested in flying out for a weekend festival, then I’d love to have you, but definitely want to focus on local and regional talent. This year, I think we probably had a good 100, maybe 80, submissions, something like that.

Schulz: That’s primarily from West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, or…?

Cannon: Yeah! But we got some people from like Colorado, St. Louis. We have a couple of comedians, like coming from Louisville, and, you know, Florida and stuff like that.

Schulz: What did you learn from last year?

Cannon: I need to get so much more done in advance. I’ve done a little better this year. But next year, I’m planning on stepping it up even further. I’m definitely going forward hoping to reach out to and potentially get grants so I can potentially bring in bigger names and things like that. I just have no experience in that matter, and so I’m just kind of figuring all of this out as I go along.

Schulz: The festival isn’t just local comedians, as you alluded to there, you’re bringing in some pretty big names. Why is it important for you to obviously highlight local comedians, but also to bring in some of those bigger names?

Cannon: Well, for me, I’ve committed to staying here. I have a kid here, I want to stay here at least till he’s old enough to travel. So I want comedians to want to come to the state since I’ve committed to staying here. Also I just really love the state. I’m hoping this summer to take a couple of comedians on whitewater rafting trips. And every time a comedian comes through town, always the morning after a show I take them to Tudor’s Biscuit World. I try to make it an experience.

For me, it’s cool because I’m hanging out with people I look up to and aspire to be like one day. But it’s also because I get to introduce a community, the comedy community, to a place that I love very much. Since I started producing shows after things opened up in 2021, most of the comedians that I’ve had through have told me that it’s the first time they’ve ever been to West Virginia, other than maybe driving through but never like stopping for shows.

I would love to see the state thrive. I would love to see more tourism. The music scene is pretty great, and you get a lot of pretty fantastic touring bands. I just saw an opportunity, a vacuum, for touring comedy and decided to open up those roads and have more stops for comedians to potentially make money.

Schulz: Talk to me a little bit about, you know, the local scene and how that’s been progressing since you started this last year.

Cannon: I’m so grateful that I am surrounded with so many talented and excited and enthusiastic comedians because everyone’s pulling their own weight. Everybody’s kind of doing little things here and there to try to make the scene more exciting and interesting to people who might not normally think to come to a show in Morgantown, West Virginia. I’m just so proud of where everyone’s at and how hard everyone is working. Everyone’s constantly coming to the stage with fresh and exciting material and trying to work on new stuff and I’m really proud of everyone that I work with.

Schulz: Why do you think it’s important to set up a festival and not just focus exclusively on your set, your show and yourself?

Cannon: For one I wouldn’t be where I am without the community I have. It’s a chance for me to show off to this great community. So many of these nationally touring comics that you mentioned, have been like, “Wow, you have a great thing set up here. These people are really supportive. These venues are really cool.”

I like to give back. I’ve always enjoyed festivals in general. Wine and Jazz is one of my favorite weekends of the year. I love a good music festival. I’ve always wanted to do something like that. And so this is kind of me making something happen out of what I love. I don’t know, I just want to keep growing the scene and want people to keep wanting to come to West Virginia. 123 is a magical venue. Every comedian that’s performed there, it’s like “This place is something special.” So, I want to keep that going.

More information, including a list of featured comedians and participating venues, can be found on the Red Eye Comedy Facebook page.

W.Va. State Fair Day One: Competition, Exhibition, Tradition

Competition, exhibition and tradition are three key components to the State Fair of West Virginia. But it’s the people – and their animals – who make this annual event a must see for so many.

Mya Workman’s pole horse Bugs is ready for competition. Just back from the nationals in Wyoming, the Hillsboro teen is preparing to compete in barrel racing, pole riding and team roping. Workman said to go fast and win, she and Bugs endure years of slow, deliberate training.

The Zuzu Acrobats come from Kenya and Tanzania.

“Doing barrel patterns slowly is what it’s all about,” Workman said. “Rodeo is such a humbling sport. You can be doing so great and it’ll humble you so quick. These animals are like family.”

From the heart of Africa, the high flying Zuzu Acrobats come to the fair just off a world tour. Performer Amdul Dora said they are here to entertain and extend a message of global unity.
“My intention is for people to enjoy our show,” Dora said. “We want them to enjoy themselves and for all of us to make the world a better place.”

The Halstead family from Boone County comes to the fair every year.

In the Zuzu audience, there are about a dozen members of Boone County’s Halstead family. Patriarch Jeffery said he’s brought his clan to the fair every year for at least a decade.

“We like it up here,” Halstead said. “We like looking at animals and watching the shows and all of the free concerts. Sometimes we watch a paid concert.”

Mountain State expatriates Steven and Felecia Elliott come back home to the State Fair every year.

Coming in from Thaxton, Virginia, Mountain State expatriates Steven and Felecia Elliott said they never miss a West Virginia State Fair.

“We grew up in southern West Virginia. We’ve been coming here since we were little people,” the Elliotts said. “We love going through the animal barns, especially the goats because they have so much personality. It just brings back wonderful memories.”

The State Fair in Fairlea, West Virginia, runs daily through Saturday, Aug. 20.

Comedy Festival Brings Morgantown Laughs For Days

On March 31, the Red Eye Comedy Festival will bring three days of laughs to Morgantown.

When you think of West Virginia, many things come to mind. But comedy is probably not the first or even second on the list.

Cody Cannon is a Morgantown comedian. He works in the restaurant industry by day, but he’s passionate about what he does. He’s also passionate about where he does it.

“I want comedians to want to come to West Virginia, I want there to be more exciting things happening in West Virginia and I like festivals,” Cannon said. “To create one of my own is kind of like a dream come true almost.”

But that dream was almost never realized, said Noah Basden, another Morgantown comedian.

“This festival was scheduled for 2020 like right before COVID really popped off. It was like it was go time,“ he said.

Alas, a festival in mid-April of 2020 was just one of countless live performances that were hastily canceled as the world adjusted to the emergent coronavirus pandemic. While in-person events have started to recover over the past year, nascent comedy communities across West Virginia definitely took a hit.

“There aren’t as many people, which is a bummer. I really want to see more people coming out to the scene,” Cannon said. “It’s just not the humongous diverse crowds we’re getting right before the pandemic. Now we’re starting to slowly build up steam.”

That steam is culminating with a festival. On March 31, the Red Eye Comedy Festival will bring three days of laughs to Morgantown.

“Red Eye Comedy Festival is a combination of local artists, musical and comedic, and also national acts.Three days, three different venues, three different shows,” Basden said.

Basden spent years working as a comedian in Chicago before moving back to Morgantown. There, he hosted shows in his house under the moniker of “The Potion Castle.”

A festival is certainly a step up from “Do it Yourself” house shows, or even the popular open mics in downtown Morgantown that Basden helped create.

Cannon has been plugging away to create an environment for comedy in Morgantown, too. He’s attracted national names like Myq Kaplan and Joyelle Nicole Johnson to do shows there, often their first time performing anywhere in West Virginia.

For the festival, he has helped to attract touring headliners Aminah Imani and Dave Ross.

Ross will headline Friday’s show, alongside the folks of the satire website “The Hard Times.” Ross came up in the punk and alternative scenes that the site lampoons, with the same kind of DIY ethos that comedy in West Virginia requires.

“I’m really excited to go to West Virginia,” Ross said. “It’s impressive to build a comedy scene from nothing. And that’s a big reason I feel privileged to be booked on this festival. And to be thought of, and why I’m so excited to do it.”

While touring comedians might be a major draw, the upcoming festival aims to highlight local talent. The festival is packed with mostly West Virginia comics, and not just Morgantown’s deep pool of standups. One such comic is Alexandria Runyon of Huntington.

“It’s really exciting for my first participation in a festival to be a West Virginia festival, you know, that was put together by West Virginians,” she said.

Runyon, who works part time as a producer for WVPB’s Inside Appalachia, has been part of Huntington’s comedy scene since she was in college. She sees the festival as a step in the right direction for a region ready for a new way to tell its stories.

“I hope that the future of comedy in the state is just abundant,” Runyon said. “I know that there are so many people here in West Virginia who are storytellers. And I think oral storytelling is a trademark of Appalachian people. And I think comedy is just a very natural way to present those stories.“

That’s a sentiment Cannon can get behind, and drives his desire to see this festival and others like it succeed.

“I want this state to do well. It breeds incredible artists, constantly popping up with incredible talent. And one thing I’d like this thing to do, I only want it to grow,” he said.

Whether the festival will be a success and have a chance to grow remains to be seen later this month, but those involved are giving it their all to ensure some laughs after a difficult few years.

Fairs And Festival Set To Return This Year

Gov. Jim Justice has announced that all state fairs and festivals can reopen, come May. Kelly Collins is the president of the West Virginia Association of Fairs and Festivals, and she’s CEO for the State Fair of West Virginia. Eric Douglas spoke with Collins about the governor’s announcement earlier this week.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Douglas: The governor announced that fairs and festivals are returning May 1. What can we expect? What are people going to see this summer and into the fall?

Collins: We hope that they’re seeing the return of our fairs and festivals. It’s been a long year without our events, and with everybody being closed. So we’re really excited to get back to business. Now, we know that there’s going to be some guidelines and restrictions in place. And we haven’t seen those yet. But we’re more than willing to follow them. Because we know that we need to get back to business and the people want to come to events.

Douglas: So you’re expecting an entire set of recommendations from the state about how to operate and how to how to function?

Collins: In 2020, there was a few months, there was a short time frame where we were allowed to have fairs and festivals and the governor’s office did provide us with some guidelines to be able to operate. We’re looking for something similar. We know that we’re in a little bit better situation this year, thankfully. And with vaccine numbers on the rise, and hopefully COVID cases continue to decline. We know that there’s some things that we’re going to need to follow to keep people safe, because when it comes down to it, safety is the No. 1 thing that we’re concerned with.

Douglas: Are all of them coming back? Are any of them not going to be able to reopen this year?

Collins: We haven’t been able to see a full list of who is going to be able to return. Unfortunately, because of the financial situation, of a lot of events, we are looking for some not to be able to open this year. Thankfully, Gov. Justice did help us out financially from his governor’s contingency fund last year. And that really saved some folks and some of our most-treasured events.

Douglas: So you’re expecting the state fair to come back

Collins: The State Fair is scheduled for Aug. 12 -21. We’re really excited to open the gates and to see people. We hope people are patient with us as we plan, because we know that there’s going to be some restrictions and guidelines. And we’ll make those announcements when appropriate. But for now, it’s easier for us to plan a full-size fair and then scale back as need be because we have a small staff of less than 10 people. We have to start planning now if we’re going to have an event of that magnitude.

Douglas: What’s the first fair or festival after the first of May?

Collins: The Strawberry Festival is probably the biggest event that’s coming up in the first weekend of May. And you know, I know that they’ve been doing everything they can to make plans but they had to scale back a little bit. But now, once we see these new guidelines, when they come out, we’re hoping that they’re going to be able to have a few more events. That’s, that’s one of the most prized events in the state. So we wish them the best of luck.

Douglas: Anything else we haven’t talked about?

Collins: I think the biggest thing is just the economic impact of fairs and festivals to the state. In our last study, the state fair had a $13.8 million economic impact on the state of West Virginia. So it’s so important that we return. I know there’s a lot of people that are on the fence of mass gatherings and rightfully so. We’re going to do so safely and when we do open our doors, I hope that people are coming out to support our events.

Tomblin: Festivals, Fairs Won't Suffer Next Budget

Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin says festivals and fairs likely won’t suffer in next year’s budget.

Tomblin tells the Parkersburg News and Sentinel that his upcoming budget proposal would maintain the $1.9 million set aside for fairs and festivals this year.

Tomblin has said he wants to use $100 million from the state’s Rainy Day Fund to cover a projected funding gap in the 2016 budget year.

Unlike the last two years, Tomblin says across-the-board cuts, except for some protected programs, will not be part of his 2016 suggestions.

Tomblin will propose his budget in January at the start of the state’s 60-day legislative session. Then lawmakers will craft the state budget during session. Tomblin has the ability to veto spending items afterward.