Latest News, WVPA Sharing

Marshall County festivals to provide fun-filled weekend in Moundsville

By DREW PARKER

The Intelligencer and Wheeling News-Register

MOUNDSVILLE, W.Va. — Two popular festivals will ensure Moundsville’s Jefferson Avenue is the perfect place for family fun next month.

The Elizabethtown Festival and the Uptown Moundsville Activities Committee’s Fall Festival will be held Sept. 16, behind the walls of the former West Virginia Penitentiary and among the Jefferson Avenue business district, respectively.

Both will take place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Suzanne Park, director of the Marshall County Economic Development Council, said the two free events will provide an entertaining day for all.

“These are two great events together for one day and I think we’ll be able to maximize that. There will be something to do all day long up and down Jefferson Avenue, both outdoor and indoor, from food to crafts, singing and dancing,” Park said.

In 1771, Irish immigrant Joseph Tomlinson Jr. and his brothers made the first settlement on the flats of Grave creek and built a cabin near what is now Moundsville Middle School.

By 1778, after many people had settled in and around the flats of Grave Creek, Tomlinson decided to lay out a town and called it Elizabethtown in honor of his wife.

In 1831, Simon Purdy purchased a tract of land neat the river that became known as Moundsville, which later merged with Elizabethtown.

More than 150 years later, Hilda Blake and the late Sue Riggs decided to honor the memory of Elizabethtown with a community event.

The Sept. 16 festival, now in its 19th year, will include wood carving, pie and cookie contests, potato sack races and other period games, musical and dance performances and bread-making.

For the second time, the festival will also host a car show, with the addition of motorcycles this year.

Children from local elementary schools will provide musical performances that will celebrate the history of Marshall County and the nation.

“There will be activities all day long,” Park said.

“The Elizabethtown Festival celebrates the community that was here originally before Moundsville and is a celebration of the Tomlinson family. It’s a piece of heritage for the community.”

UMAC’s seventh-annual Fall Festival, meanwhile, will be held on Jefferson Avenue between Second and Fifth streets with events for all ages, including performances from Stevie Lynn, Pocket Change, Gregg Molnar and Deep Water.

Mason Dixon BBQ will be available for purchase along with ice cream, hot dogs, homemade pies and cotton candy. Peggy’s Poseys will host a wine-tasting.

Festival favorites include handmade crafts, face painting and children’s pony rides, held from noon to 3 p.m. Several local shops will extend hours and offer specials for the event.

“We wanted to incorporate our events and make it into a tradition, although both festivals will still have their own themes and attractions,” Laura Francis of UMAC said.

“There are so many events going on in the area that we wanted to make this weekend for Moundsville. The Fall Festival has become a tradition and we get a lot of people from out of town who come to it, as well. It’s nice to expose everyone to what shops we have on (Jefferson) Avenue.”

See more from The Intelligencer and Wheeling News-Register

 

Comments are closed.

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

And get our latest content in your inbox

Invalid email address