Federal funding for arts and culture has been curtailed. Trey Kay looks at the reasons in the latest Us & Them. Also, the state board of education has approved another round of school closures and consolidations, the state Legislature is expected to take up several bills in the coming session to address foster care and children who are homeless, and U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom was laid to rest Tuesday at the West Virginia National Cemetery in Grafton.
Pierogies, Flat Five Studio And Bigfoot, Inside Appalachia
Making pierogies by hand is a long-time tradition in a small church in Wheeling, West Virginia.Will Warren/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Listen
Share this Article
This week, members of a Ukrainian Catholic church in Wheeling, West Virginia, make pierogies every week. They’re popular with the community, but what makes them so good?
Also, Salem, Virginia’s Flat Five Studio got its first big break when the Dave Matthews Band was searching for a quiet place to record its first album. We hear the story of a big moment for a small studio.
And, a longtime Bigfoot hunter believes his first encounter with the mythical monster happened when he was a kid.
You’ll hear these stories and more this week, Inside Appalachia.
Harpers Ferry Author Finds The Spirit In His Shoes
A Passion For Pierogies In Wheeling, W.Va.
Just about every culture has some version of the dumpling. China has the wonton. They make ravioli in Italy.
Different forms of dumplings have made their way into Appalachia and that includes pierogies from eastern Europe, which arrived more than a century ago.
Folkways Reporter Will Warren went to Wheeling, West Virginia for a story about neighborhood pierogi makers.
The Once And Future Flat Five
Flat Five owner Byron Mack shows a trophy for an award won by one of his songs.
Courtesy Photo
Tom Ohmsen’s been around music and recording his whole life. He got his first tape recorder when he was just a kid. In college, he recorded bluegrass bands, which led to the start of Flat Five Studio in Salem, Virginia.
In the early 1990s, the studio helped launch the Dave Matthews Band, but now Ohmsen’s looking toward retirement.
Mason Adams visited Flat Five to get its history and hear about its future.
Walking Up To The Bigfoot Festival
Visitors from all over the country visited the Bigfoot Festival at the end of June in Sutton, West Virginia.
Photo Credit: Briana Heaney/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
In June,the population of Sutton, West Virginia, swells from 840 people to nearly 20,000 for its annual Bigfoot Festival — a celebration of the mythical giant with extra large feet.
WVPB’s Briana Heaney spoke to those who search for the creature — and some who just love the idea of it.
Harpers Ferry Author Finds The Spirit In His Shoes
West Virginia author John Michael Cummings likes the immediacy of short fiction.
Courtesy Photo
John Michael Cummings is an author in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, who published his first novel in 2008. Cummings’ new collection of short stories, The Spirit in My Shoes, incorporates elements of flash fiction.
Cummings recently spoke with Inside Appalachia Producer Bill Lynch.
——
Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr., Jeff Ellis, Blue Dot Sessions, John Wyatt and Sierra Ferrell.
Bill Lynch is our producer. Zander Aloi is our associate producer. Our executive producer is Eric Douglas. Kelley Libby is our editor. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens. We had help this week from Folkways Editor Jennifer Goren.
You can send us an email: InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.
For some Americans, this year’s political earthquakes hit close to home. Trey Kay reflects on federal budget cuts, the elimination of programs and agencies and the resulting layoffs of hundreds of thousands of workers. 2025 was also a year highlighting escalated immigration enforcement, and the deployment of National Guard troops in U.S. cities. One of those missions resulted in the tragic loss of a West Virginia National Guard soldier. On this end-of-year episode of Us & Them, we examine how today’s culture-war battles are reshaping the nation’s foundation.
Federal funding for arts and culture has been curtailed. Trey Kay looks at the reasons in the latest Us & Them. Also, the state board of education has approved another round of school closures and consolidations, the state Legislature is expected to take up several bills in the coming session to address foster care and children who are homeless, and U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom was laid to rest Tuesday at the West Virginia National Cemetery in Grafton.
It’s common at Christmastime for churches and businesses to set up angel trees, decorated with paper ornaments holding a child’s name and wish list. Trees set up this year for the children of Iaeger, West Virginia, reflect the long-term damage done by the February floods that devastated McDowell County.
It’s common at Christmastime for churches and businesses to set up angel trees, decorated with paper ornaments holding a child’s name and wish list. Trees set up this year for the children of Iaeger, West Virginia, reflect the long-term damage done by the February floods that devastated McDowell County.
