By John G. Wolfe
Traditional folk music, arts and crafts, square dancing and contests are just a few of the many activities slated for the 73rd Annual West Virginia State Folk Festival to be held in Glenville, WV, June 15 – 18. The Festival officially opens on Thursday, June 15, at 4 p.m. with the ringing of the “Rosie Riveter” Bell in the downtown city park.
The major focus of the festival has always been music and the festival offers a wide variety from fiddle contests, to gospel sings, and impromptu jams throughout the town Thursday through Saturday. Along with the music a popular activity is square dancing held in the middle of downtown on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings.
Over 40 crafters and artisans will be on hand to sell and demonstrate their crafts at various spots around town throughout the festival. Along with the crafters will be a quilt show, singing storytelling and ghost story tents. A popular attraction that also has crafts, goodies and Folk Festival items is the Country Store. The store also serves as a festival information center.
The festival offers a variety of contests that include music, writing, spelling bee, West Virginia trivia, muzzleloading, corn hole, a 5K run, pets, car cruise-in and food contests that include pies, jams and jellies, and pepperoni rolls,
The Saturday parade features antique cars and will honor the Folk Festival Belles. This year there will be 22 Belles (age 70+), 21 youth Junior Belles and 12 Baby Belles representing 30 different counties. Parade Marshals will be former WV House of Delegate member Brent Boggs and his wife Jean, who are always great supporters of the festival. Special activities will be held for children following the parade.
Throughout the festival transportation to and from events will be available via utility vehicles and a horse-drawn wagon ride tour is available. A shuttle service will be operated by The Glenville Inn to take visitors to and from the hotel. There will be plenty of food featuring the traditional Lion’s Club hot dogs, high school FFA strawberry shortcakes an ice cream social, cotton candy, calzones, and more.
Glenville State University will be the site of evening fiddle contests and music shows, a special art display of Ludwik Glass Factory glasswork and the Kemper carved bird collection. GSU librarian, Jason Gum, will do a presentation on the history of the Folk Festival downtown on Friday. The University will also offer dorm rooms for additional places for patrons to stay during the festival.
The festival is a great way to welcome West Virginia Day, and will close on Sunday, June 18 with church sevice led by Rev. Donnie Stout beginning at 9 a.m. The service will take place at the historic Jobs Temple, a log cabin church ten miles northwest of Glenville near the Gilmer-Calhoun County line.
For more information about the festival visit the West Virginia State Folk Festival Facebook page or the website at wvstatefolkfestival.com.
(Photo caption: Traditional square dancing is a favorite activity at the WV State Folk Festival held in Glenville, June 15 – 18.)
