PepsiCo businesses will build two warehouse and distribution facilities in West Virginia in investments totaling $32.5 million that will employ 185 people, Gov. Jim Justice announced.
PepsiCo Beverages North America will construct a warehouse in Ona, while Frito-Lay North America will build a distribution center in Scott Depot, Justice said Thursday in a news release.
The combined facilities will include 25 new jobs for warehouse, sales and drivers, the statement said.
The Pepsi warehouse is scheduled to open next month. The Frito-Lay facility is scheduled to open this fall and will replace a smaller one in Poca.
PepsiCo currently employs nearly 700 people across West Virginia.
Ona resident Linda Childers says she hopes to use her art to promote love for West Virginia and encourage people to explore the state for themselves.
In 2020, she hosted an art show with 30 paintings in her yard. Childers said most of her paintings, besides the florals and occasional landscapes, are images of Huntington or Marshall University.
“I wanted to do something that had a statewide appeal,” she said.
She said she was working on a puzzle last year that showed the artist’s brush strokes and that led to her creating a map of West Virginia with over 130 miniature paintings of cool things to do in the Mountain State.
“I’ve had it manufactured into a thousand-piece, 24-inch by 30-inch puzzle,” Childers said. “My husband, Rick, and I rented a 16-foot Budget truck and hauled them back from Kansas City, Missouri, this month, and they’re already in eight shops from Huntington to Charleston.”
Childers said her plan is to have them in gift shops across the state.
“Selling puzzles is just a part of my puzzle project. My goal is to promote tourism, learning and love of West Virginia and to encourage people to turn their ideas and dreams into real things,” she said.
With the help of videographer Bobby Lee Messer, Childers is creating two video series.
“One series, Travel WV with Linda, will be short videos shot as I travel with friends or my husband all over the state to every single place I’ve painted on the map,” she said. “And having fun and delivering puzzles. My goal is to educate people about these places, and I’m hoping that will in turn encourage them to travel to places they may live just an hour or two or three away from and have never been.”
Childers says the other series will be called Create WV.
“I’ll be interviewing West Virginians who have created something — a business, a cleanup project, a garden, a book club — to encourage people who have an idea, a dream or a spark of a create notion to follow that to fruition,” she said. “I know that fear and doubt can stop people from following their dreams, and our state needs the creativity of its people to help it continue to grow and prosper.”
Childers said they started filming the videos recently in Charleston at J.Q. Dickinson Salt-Works and Taylor Books.
“It was absolutely fabulous,” she said. “This coming week I’m going to Fayetteville.”
More information is online at artbylinda.org.
“I’ve turned my website into my puzzle project hub,” she said.
You can also find her on Facebook at Art by Linda.
Childers says in recent years, her art has moved away from the decorative purpose to involve social engagement and political motives.
“I love to paint and I love to create, so I look for ways to combine my art with making a difference in people’s lives,” she said.
Childers said when she quit teaching in 2012 she was able to totally focus on her art.
“At that same time, I had always been curious about politics, but never gave it any attention,” Childers said. “I started listening to ‘The Daily Show’ while doing paintings and started to become aware of politics.”
In 2015, Bernie Sanders ran for president and Childers said she realized she was a progressive.
“So then I realized I just can’t be painting,” she said. “I was so concerned about the climate crisis that for a while I would put on my Facebook page all of my proceeds would go to issues related to the climate crisis.”
Childers said she realized how privileged she is and so she wanted to help those who are not. Her front yard art show was a way to do that.
“Last year I had an art show with 30 paintings in my yard,” she said. “I let people who bought paintings make the choice to have the proceeds go to the local food bank, to the animal shelter or to a progressive political candidate for U.S. Congress, Hilary Turner. I got $800 for the food bank, $500 for the animal shelter and a couple thousand for Hilary Turner.”
But Childers said her West Virginia Puzzle Project is her long-term assignment.
“I have lots more of this great state to see,” she said. “I plan to go to all the places I’ve painted on this map and to share my adventures. In fact, if I couldn’t fit it on the map, but it’s cool or interesting, I’ll also be going there.”
Our Song of the Week comes from acclaimed Nashville singer and songwriter Kim Richey, along with her band and San Francisco’s Chuck Prophet, who was a guest on this episode and also appears on Richey’s new album “Edgeland.” Here’s their duet, “Whistle On Occasion.”
We also shot a video of Kim and Chuck performing “Whistle On Occasion” on location at the state capitol grounds in Charleston, WV. You can see the video below via VuHaus.com.
(Cameras: Josh Edwards, Josh McComas, Courtney Holschuh, Edited by: Michael Valentine)
Hear Kim Richey‘s entire set on this week’s broadcast, a set from Chuck Prophet featuring the Mountain Stage Band, plus a blend of Latin and Appalachian with Che Apalache, West Virginia indie-rockers Ona, and West Africa’s Sidi Toure.
Hundreds of West Virginia residents attended the state’s first public hearing to prepare for an upcoming special legislative session to address education issues.
The Herald-Dispatch reports parents, educators and the public attended the forum Monday at Cabell Midland High School in Ona where they were divided into groups to participate in small round-table discussions. During the forum, the Department of Education divided the discussion into four overarching areas: funding opportunities, instructional quality, school choice and innovation, and social emotional supports.
Gov. Jim Justice called the special session to address teacher pay raises and other education issues. He’s asked legislators to meet with teachers, parents, and other stakeholders before returning.
Huntington mother of two, Katharine Lea, says she was happy to give feedback on the issue.
“There is so much killer music that comes out of here, and always has. It’s amazing to join in on the tradition of West Virginia music.”
From West Virginia Public Broadcasting and A Change of Tune, this is 30 Days of #WVmusic, the interview series celebrating the folks who make the West Virginia music scene wild and wonderful.
And today’s interview is with a modern Southern rock band who do just as their birthplace suggests: holler. This… is Ducain.
<a data-cke-saved-href=”http://ducain.bandcamp.com/album/getaway-ep” href=”http://ducain.bandcamp.com/album/getaway-ep”>Getaway EP by Ducain</a>
How did the band start out?
Jeremy Sargent and Jared Holley had been putting on two-man jam sessions for years after meeting and bonding over music while working at a small gas station in Ona, West Virginia. Brandon McCallister and Rich Mills had been playing together for years in church bands. It just so happened that Jeremy and Brandon met and began talking music, and each one brought their friend into a couple of jam sessions that turned into a steady gig.
Credit Jess Keathley
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Ducain
Where does the band name come from?
Jeremy’s dad was in a band called Outlaw Cain during the early ‘90s through around 2000. They played regionally, covering southern and classic rock as well as playing originals. This band is where Jeremy solidified his love for music watching his dad play.
When our band first formed, we went nameless for the better part of a year, we were even playing open mic shows without a name because nothing hit us quite right. One night, we were sitting in the studio after an ill-fated recording attempt, looking up landmarks in and around West Virginia, when Jared’s girlfriend found Fort Duquesne in Pittsburgh. We loved the sound of the word itself, but we didn’t have any connection to it. When it was mentioned to Jeremy, he immediately made the connection to Outlaw Cain. We changed the spelling and ran with it.
How has Ducain’s music changed over time (if at all)?
We started out as a smooth blues band following Brandon’s influence, but after everyone began adding in their own flavors and Jeremy began writing more, we started to swing towards this modern Southern rock thing. A lot of the songs on our first album (which we’re set to release soon) are in that Southern/arena rock spectrum. After recording and waiting on post-production to finish up, we’ve gotten even more on the Southern rock side in our recent writing.
Credit Jess Keathley
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Ducain
What’s been the highlight of your musical journey thus far?
Really the highlight has been making music with good people. You can’t beat that. If you’re playing to a room of 10 people or a crowd of 150 people, you have to enjoy the people that you’re playing with. We all have really different personalities and watching those differences gel into a creative hive-mind has been amazing.
What’s your best advice to anyone starting to make music?
Just do what you like. Play what you want. Experiment. If you like jamming in the backroom with a couple of buddies and never plan to play a show, that’s fine. If you want to go hit the stage and tour the world, then that’s awesome as well. Just do what you like. Also, don’t let anybody tell you that there isn’t room for you or what you’re doing in a particular scene. West Virginia’s music scene is big enough and diverse enough to facilitate all of us. You’ll find your place. Just keep working.
Credit Jess Keathley
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Ducain is Jeremy Sargent, Jared Holley, Rich Mills and Brandon McCallister.
What’s it like making music in West Virginia?
Making music in West Virginia is a dream. We love being from here. We are proud to be from West Virginia. There is so much killer music that comes out of here, and always has. It’s amazing to join in on the tradition of West Virginia music. The scene that has been built in Huntington fosters creativity so thoroughly that the city is literally oozing it right now. The connections that you’re able to build in this town are super helpful and really heartwarming.
Credit Jess Keathley
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Ducain
Do you feel held back by being in West Virginia? Or does it feel like a musically-supportive place?
It’s really supportive. Especially in Huntington. When you play a show there, the crowd is 40% musicians from other bands that are there supporting the scene.
What, in your opinion, needs to happen in the West Virginia music scene for it to move forward?
I think that things like this program are doing a great job at moving WV music forward. Mountain Stage featuring several West Virginia artists in the last year or so has really helped to spread our profile across the country. So, you guys are kind of the engine to this bus at the moment. Other than that, I think getting more people out to shows, stacking shows with local talent, and maybe starting those shows a little earlier can help us all out.
Ducain’s latest release is the Getaway EP. Keep an eye (and ear) on the band’s social media for their upcoming full-length (which was recorded with Ona’s Max Nolte). Hear more #WVmusic on A Change of Tune, airing Saturday nights at 10 on West Virginia Public Broadcasting. Connect with A Change of Tune on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And for more #WVmusic chats, make sure to go to wvpublic.org/wvmusic and subscribe to our RSS / podcast feeds.
Support for 30 Days of #WVmusic is provided by Kin Ship Goods, proud supporter of DIY music and the arts. Locally shipped worldwide at kinshipgoods.com.
And across seven venues in four states, we recorded over 120 live sets that showcased the best and brightest musicians in the world today. Along the way, we video streamed eight of our shows through VuHaus and made some new #gotowv friends along the way (with posters and glass records in tow!). Of course, none of this would have happened without your support.
Before we embark on another musical year around the sun, Larry Groce and the Mountain Stage crew have picked out 33 performances that deserve another listen and another round of applause. From A to Z, these are our favorite Mountain Stage performances of 2016. (Hint: click the Episode # for their Mountain Stage podcast episode, where available.)
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Aoife O’Donovan – In the Magic Hour (Culture Center Theater in Charleston, WV on October 30, 2016 – Episode #883)
Credit Brian Blauser/Mountain Stage
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Aoife O’Donovan on Mountain Stage
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Billy Bragg & Joe Henry – Gentle On My Mind (Byham Theater in Pittsburgh, PA on September 25, 2016 with WYEP & Pittsburgh Cultural Trust – Episode #879)
