Local Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Localization Event Brings Together Huntington Area Creatives For Art, Culture Show

The city of Huntington — seeking to bring together the creative mojo of local businesses, artists and musicians, celebrated the city’s culture with Localization, a pop-up show.

The event was started by Lilly Dyer and Heath Holley when they were art students at Marshall University.

Dyer said Localization began as a way to create opportunities for local artists. “It’s really hard to be an artist and a creative person in Appalachia,” Dyer said. “Being able to create Localization was a way to bring creatives together just to give people more opportunities to make work.”

Localization took place at CoalField Development’s West Edge Factory. The West Edge Factory is an old repurposed ceramic factory. CoalField Development is a non-profit with the goal of revitalizing Appalachia, largely by providing job training.

To Dyer, CoalField Development’s focus on community revitalization makes the West Edge the perfect place for Localization. “They’re doing great work there with the community and with Appalachia in general,” she said, “I think with their mission and our mission, being able to just ask them if we can have the pop-up show there has just been like a perfect fit.”

The Localization film festival showcased an hour’s worth of films. Four judges were present: filmmaker Tijah Bumgarner who teaches at Marshall; WSAZ Anchor Tim Irr; Director of the Alchemy Theatre Troupe Mike Murdock; and Huntington Mayor Steve Williams. Michael Valentine won first place for his film “Hive Mentality.”

This is the first Localization since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Dyer says this Localization gives a glimpse into what artists in the Huntington area have worked on over the past two years. She said it was exciting to “give that space for people to showcase what they’ve been working on while in isolation, and being able to bring everyone together in a safe space to just connect again.”

Along with the vendors, around 20 artists showed their work as part of a curated show. Leah Gore, the curator, said the theme of Rebirth was chosen to evoke a Huntington renaissance. “We wanted to highlight Appalachian grit and our resilience,” she said.

“A room full of creation, art and music. It’s super special walking through that big space,” Holley said, noting the impact of “visual noise.”

“Everywhere you look is somebody just surrounded by what they spent so much time on making. They’re makin’ money doin’ what they doin.”

Gore called the event “a beautiful visual representation of our community and our individuals that are really focusing on their craft.”

She added: “I think it’s important to, as the audience, take a look around and appreciate others’ perspectives of life, how they’re living, and new ideas. It’s a visual representation of the times we live in, whether it be abstract, or physical, or subjective. It can be telling a story.”

As a means of guaranteeing access, Localization has no cover-charge. Dyer said the freedom and fluidity of Localization is key to its success. “They’re using that money towards other artists and being able to fund their work as well. Even if you are kinda broke at the moment, you’re welcome to come in as well. That connection itself of having people in person and having that experience is very exciting to me.”

More than 400 people attended this year’s Localization, and organizers said they expect growth next year.

How Local Shopping Helps W.Va.'s Economy

With only two days left until Christmas, how many of you are still out looking for that one final gift? Well, there’s lots of ways to find that last present – big superstores, malls, or online – but what about shopping locally? The West Virginia Small Business Administration says, small, local businesses employ nearly half of all West Virginia workers.

During the holiday season, DeFluri’s Fine Chocolates in Martinsburg often sees a consistent line of people looking eagerly through their large, glass candy case at the back of the store.

“The milk chocolate pretzels are my favorite,” said Shepherdstown resident, and DeFluri’s regular Tammy Kershner, “But my dad likes the chocolate covered cherries, and so instead of buying him the cheap, nasty box for three bucks at the grocery store, I come here and get him these.”

Quality is what DeFluri’s co-owner Brenda Casabona says helps her small business compete with the mass market like Hershey’s or Nestle.

“People that want a better product,” she explained, “and they realize that a better product entails a higher cost in general, on a food product because of the quality of your ingredients, so, that would be our target market, people that really do want a quality product.”

Brenda and Charlie Casabona opened DeFluri’s Fine Chocolates in downtown Martinsburg in 1998. Charlie says part of the attraction of shopping locally at a small business is the customer service and the ability to personalize products – especially at Christmas.

“As we get closer to Christmas,”Charlie said, “people come in and they pick every box, and the full service candy case is what they come in for.”

Two conveyor belts in DeFluri’s chocolate factory.

Through a door in the back of the showroom is DeFluri’s own chocolate factory. It’s one, massive12,000 square-foot room with machines that swirl the chocolate, conveyer belts that cover the various candies with chocolate, and even an antique foil-wrapping machine.

“We make creams the old fashioned way that are cooked, so they’re very soft and flowy; jellies, nut clusters, authentic butter crunch,” Charlie noted, “There are 17 flavors of truffles in the case.”

Charlie and Brenda say making and selling chocolate takes a lot of work, but it’s always worth it in the end when they see how much people love their product.

But shopping local at a small business, like DeFluri’s, has more impact than just choice and quality. Small businesses actually make up a large portion of employers in West Virginia. In fact, the West Virginia Small Business Administration, or SBA, says there are over 100,000 small businesses in the Mountain State, making up 95.6 percent of the state’s employers and 50.5 percent of West Virginia’s workforce.

DeFluri’s chocolate factory in the back of the building.

Randy Lewis is the Executive Director of Main Street Martinsburg, which is part of a statewide initiative called Main Street West Virginia that tries to encourage people to shop more locally and revitalize communities.

He says shopping local, especially during the holidays, really makes a difference.

“It makes our community a sense of pride giving back, because you are supporting local jobs as well as showing support for them, so we need to keep that local economy local,” he explained.”

Lewis says small businesses help make West Virginia towns a destination – and being a destination often means bolstering the local economy.

Specialty Coffee Shops are on the Rise in W.Va.

Brian Burcher and Jennifer Maghan, co-owners of the Black Dog Coffee Company.

Coffee has always been a popular drink. It’s been a big trade item for hundreds of years and continues to be one of the leading beverages in the world. Coffee is so popular that many people don’t even care if it’s cheap or low quality; as long as they have that caffeine fix. But more and more people are searching for that higher quality coffee only found in the specialty shops.

Brian Bircher roasts imported, green coffee beans using a massive roaster built in 1931 called, Plutonius. This seven-and-a-half-foot tall roaster was manufactured by a coffee company called Jabez Burns & Sons in New York City. According to the company’s records, this model was the last one made, and Bircher says, it’s one of four he’s been able to find still in use today.

“I first met Plutonius, we have a long history together, I lived in Leesburg back in 1986 in a little apartment overtop of a store, and in 1986 a business moved in there called the Coffee Bean,” remembered Bircher, “and they owned Plutonius at the time, and they moved it into that building, so I used to go down and watch them roast coffee. I always joked this is probably where I caught the bug, because I used to watch people work on this machine.”

Bircher opened his own coffee roasting shop in 2006 in West Virginia, first out of his garage, and then at a bigger, permanent location in 2011.

But in 2010 the Leesburg Coffee Bean closed and the massive roaster, Plutonius was headed to the Smithsonian. After learning this, Bircher went after the roaster and bought it. In 2012, he began using Plutonius full-time to roast all of the coffee beans in his shop.

Two different types of unroasted, green coffee beans.

Bircher’s specialty coffee shop, the Black Dog Coffee Company, is located in Jefferson County. It’s a popular stop on route 9 between Charles Town and Martinsburg, and its mascot is, you guessed it, a big black dog.

Bircher says what makes his product special is its freshness.

“I thought that I was sort of a coffee snob,” Bircher said, “I was buying higher quality coffee and brewing with spring water through a gold filter, grinding right before brewing, doing all the right things. But what I didn’t realize was so important with coffee is freshness. Coffee, it’s at its peak of flavor within the first 10 to 14 days after you roast it. When I tasted that, it really knocked my socks off.”

Bircher claims most of the coffee beans and pre-ground coffee people buy from grocery stores may have gone stale months before even hitting the shelves. So if freshness is the key to a truly good cup of coffee, why do so many people still buy the inexpensive or low-quality brands we see in stores?

“Just because a lot of people like very high quality doesn’t mean that everybody understands or subscribes to that,” said Brian Floyd, the Executive Director of the Pierpont Culinary Academy at Pierpont Community and Technical College in Fairmont, “I would liken coffee shops to also the proliferation of local farmers markets and local food production. People have a little more of a connection to not only the product but to the proprietor, or to the people who are frequenting that. And you know, coffee, being roasted locally means that somebody’s taking a specific interest in that, and you might get to know that particular somebody versus it just coming from a warehouse somewhere.”

Ellen Allen is the executive director of the Covenant House in Charleston, but she also identifies as a coffee connoisseur.

“I just love the richness, the boldness, and Liz, I started drinking coffee when I was like four or five years old,” Allen said, “it’s not an acquired taste, it’s something I loved immediately.”

Allen says she always chooses specialty and local coffee shops similar to the Black Dog Coffee Company, even if she has to go out of her way to get it.

“Just sipping it and enjoying it,” Allen noted, “understanding even where it comes from. It’s more of an experience than just quenching a thirst. It’s a wonderful experience to enjoy a fresh roasted cup of coffee from freshly roasted beans, and the tastes are so different from growing up as a kid who had Folgers to drinking a cup of coffee that you know came from a family farm perhaps in South America, beans grown from 4,000 feet. It’s different as night and day.”

The Black Dog Coffee Company as well as other specialty shops across the state, continue to see a growing number in the amount of people they serve. While there may always be a coffee section in grocery stores, the trend in specialty shops is on the rise.