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West Virginia was a hot bed of agriculture activity in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Thanks to the very same forces that are driving coal’s demise today—mechanization, industrialization, changing climate and changing markets—the agriculture industry dwindled greatly. Today, with food recalls becoming the norm and consumers putting more stock into how their food is being grown and manufactured, agriculture could easily rebound in West Virginia.
James Hess waited. With Hurricane Florence churning toward his home in Surfside Beach, SC, he patiently bided his time until the danger was imminent.
“We waited a couple days, but the evacuation was mandatory for all zones,” says Hess. “All lanes were outbound. It was free running. We just grabbed as many clothes as we could, threw them in the truck with as many valuables, papers and stuff like that and went.”
In 2016, YWCA Charleston revamped its annual Thanksgiving benefit dinner, which is now called Foodie Feast. After 30 years of hosting this event, which raises funds for the Sojourner’s Shelter for Homeless Women & Families, the YWCA and its marketing partner, Asher Agency, and event chair, Kirsten Mork, thought it was time for a change.
As so many things do, Arti Gras started as an idea—an idea that took years to blossom.
The idea to create an arts and music event for St. Albans, WV, came from local resident, musician and artist William Gambill. Gambill works for the state of West Virginia and has been creating music and art his entire life. He has passed his love of music down to his two sons and wanted to see his hometown, the town his sons grew up in, embrace this passion as well. Gambill researched various events around the country and put together a proposal, hoping the City of St. Albans would welcome the idea.
West Virginia’s poet laureate. An “America’s Got Talent” winner. An Emmy-winning filmmaker. The host of National Public Radio’s “Mountain Stage.” These are merely a sampling of the titles carried by contributors to West Virginia State University’s (WVSU) Creators Program, a workshop and lecture series for creators of all kinds.
Southern West Virginia will be shining this fall when, for the first time, the Alliance for Economic Development of Southern West Virginia, West Virginia Community Development Hub and Coalfield Development Corporation team up to recognize the many successes that are happening across the Mountain State’s 21 most southern counties. The Small Communities, BIG Solutions Conference is scheduled for October 22-23 at BridgeValley Community and Technical College’s Advanced Technology Center, located at the West Virginia Regional Technology Park in South Charleston.