In celebration of West Virginia’s 150th birthday the Charleston Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) has unveiled a new marketing video to get people excited about visiting the area during the celebration.
The video’s main character, Abraham Lincoln, visits local Charleston hot spots, cruises Capitol Street with Mayor Danny Jones and dines in specialty restaurants, all in an effort to encourage people to get excited about the sesquicentennial. The bureau received a $5,000 grant from the West Virginia Sesquicentennial Commission to pay for the project.
“Abe Lincoln is a recognizable and compelling personality who’s on the American conscience right now after Steven Spielberg’s movie just last year,” said Alisa Bailey, president and CEO of the bureau. “And since he’s the one who signed the papers for our statehood he was a great fit for the video.”
In 1863, President Lincoln issued a proclamation during the Civil War that formalized the state’s secession from the Old Dominion, making West Virginia the 35th state admitted to the Union and one of just two states that was formerly part of another state. The event marked a milestone in U.S. history and created headlines around the world.
Impersonator Larry Elliott, a native of Kentucky, began portraying Lincoln in 2003 and realized he would need to do extensive research if he was truly going to become the 16th president. After discovering that his great, great, great grandmother, Mary LaRue Enlow, was the midwife that delivered Lincoln he knew this was his calling.
“President Lincoln was a humble man born in a one room dirt floor log cabin in Kentucky, but he went on to save our country,” said Elliott. “That presidential decision of splitting Confederate Virginia into West Virginia, a Union state, undoubtedly helped preserve the Union and make us whole again – it was a pleasure visiting Charleston and my dear thanks goes out to all West Virginians.”
Sesquicentennial events run in conjunction with FestivALL and include Civil War re-enactments, musical performances, free sternwheeler rides, history lectures, food, art, a three-dimensional film and much more. A full schedule can be found atwww.birthday.wv.gov/Pages/happybirthday.aspx.
To view the new Lincoln video, visitwww.youtube.com/watch?v=zlcKCHluwyo.
