By Brett Dunlap
For The Parkersburg News and Sentinel

Parkersburg – Blennerhassett Island Historical State Park will commemorate West Virginia Day on Saturday with a variety of activities.

Park Superintendent Craig Pyles said the park is partnering with the Blennerhassett Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution to put on a variety of programming to mark the anniversary of West Virginia becoming a state on June 20, 1863.

“This year, we have crafters doing things of the time period, which will make it that much more interesting,” he said.

The event will have an information booth that includes things like flag codes, Constitution booklets, patriotic pins and thank-you cards for veterans utilizing an America 250 backdrop. People can sign a copy of the Declaration of Independence, and there will be goodie bags for kids, as well as information on the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Demonstrations and activities around the flag will be done by Shannon Sams-Harper, Melody Zimmerman and Catherine Sams. Sams will also be doing a cooking demonstration on an open fire utilizing dutch ovens to cook soup beans and sweet potato pecan biscuits.

Mary Ellen Brown will present a demonstration in which participants can make their own candle. People will be able to participate in the hands-on use of a washboard, organizers said.

A writing/coloring station will include writing with a quill and ink on parchment paper and a patriotic coloring book with crayons.

There will be a spinning wheel demonstration with Angie Wilson and a blacksmithing demonstration with John Schlicher.

Brian Clary will offer an interpretive program entitled “A Messenger in the Ohio Country.” This first-person program focuses on the American Revolution in the Ohio Valley and aligns with America 250 commemorative programming.

Dick and Martha Hartley will also be doing interpretive programs. Martha will examine the roles and functions of hats and what the wearer may be doing while wearing a specific hat.  Dick Hartley will portray Peter Taylor, the Blennerhassetts’ English gardener, and discuss who Taylor was and what the gardens he planted and maintained on the island were like.

At 12:30 p.m., Pyles will read a West Virginia Day Proclamation, followed by free cake and ice cream for those in attendance.

Activities will be going on throughout the day, before and after the proclamation ceremony.

Pyles suggests people wanting to be there for the proclamation come over on the 11 a.m. boat to allow plenty of time to take in some of the sights and demonstrations.

“That would give people time to wander the grounds and see the crafters before the start of the ceremony,” he said.

Regular tours of the island and its usual attractions will be going on throughout the day.

All special West Virginia Day program events on the island are free but the boat ride over is $12 for adults and $8 for children 3-12. Wagon rides are $13 for adults and $11 for children. Guided mansion tours are $5.

Read more from The Parkersburg News and Sentinel, here.

The post Blennerhassett Island to commemorate West Virginia Day Saturday appeared first on West Virginia Press Association.

BEVERLY, W.Va (WDTV) – The West Virginia Celtic Festival took place Saturday at Camp Pioneer in Randolph County.

People from around the country came to celebrate their Scottish and Irish heritage at the fourth annual event.

The festival included Irish dancing, Highland games and live Celtic music. Participants set up tents around the park for the public. Artifacts from Celtic heritage and history were on display.

The event was expected to reach up to 5,000 attendants.

“Today we’re hosting the fourth annual West Virginia Wild and Wonderful Celtic Festival and Highland Games. It’s a celebration of Celtic culture and heritage and history,” said David Ferguson, a participant. “We have Highland Games, heavy athletics. We have the athletes throwing the cabers, throwing the heavy stones. A lot of fun athletics to watch. We have Highland dancers. We have musical entertainment. We have something for everybody. We have a lot of fun activities for the kids.”

A Kirkin’ o’ the Tartan service will take place Sunday at the Beverly Presbyterian Church.

Ahead of a June 10th trip to Omaha, I’d only heard positive reviews of the Men’s College World Series and the city that hosts it.

After an eight-night stay in Nebraska’s biggest city, it’s easy to see why.

The event at Charles Schwab Field was well-run and organized starting with Thursday practice for each of the eight participants.

The ballpark, which opened in 2011, is a state of the art, clean venue with a wide variety of concession offerings and a spacious press box that easily accommodated media members while all eight teams played two games over the first four days.

Crowds were strong and made their presence felt, particularly over the first several days.

There are fan-friendly activities just outside the stadium and no shortage of restaurants and bars within walking distance to partake in pregame or postgame festivities.

Perhaps Troy coach Skylar Meade summed it up best after the Trojans were eliminated Tuesday with a 12-0 loss to West Virginia that marked their second setback to the Mountaineers over a 96-hour stretch.

“Every person who came here now knows what this place is,” Meade said. “It’s the most unique place in the world. It’s the best college sporting event bar none. No offense to the others. Rose Bowl is awesome. It ain’t this.”

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This was the third straight year I was present for West Virginia’s last game of the season after being on hand for the 2024 Super Regional series at North Carolina and again last year at LSU on the same stage.

Taking in the atmosphere in 2025 at Alex Box Stadium, when the Mountaineers played in front of consecutive crowds of 12,000-plus, provided a look at college baseball I’d never experienced and a newfound appreciation of the sport.

The MCWS took it a step further and continued the ascension of a Mountaineer program that gained national notoriety while hosting the Morgantown Regional and a Super Regional series against Cal Poly.

Envisioning WVU playing on the premier stage in college baseball was unfathomable a decade ago and even highly unlikely as recently as five years back.

But let’s not forget this is a program with four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and one of only two (North Carolina the other) to reach the Super Regional round each of the last three years.

What transpired this season as the Mountaineers set a new single-season program mark with 47 victories is a culmination of a lot of hard work from a lot of people within the program and athletic department alike, but it cannot be considered an overnight success story.

While West Virginia was swept in best-of-three sets in Chapel Hill and Baton Rouge, it’s important to remember those were 36 and 44-win teams that won regionals outside of Morgantown — feats fans should appreciate even more after witnessing the postseason atmosphere at Kendrick Family Ballpark.

WVU hadn’t won in the Super Regional round prior to this season, but two years ago, it had a ninth-inning lead against the Tar Heels in Game 1 and lost Game 2 by one run. Last season, the Mountaineers were eliminated by the eventual national champion.

“There are financial realities of the sport, and people may have assumptions about specific programs or about West Virginia in general that may or may not be correct,” WVU coach Steve Sabins said. “We have a whole lot of people working really hard on a whole lot of different areas, whether that’s Gold & Blue Enterprises, whether that’s BioPrecision with us, whether that’s the School of Sports Science or Biomechanics and Performance Center, whether that’s third-party NIL, specific donors, West Virginia has all of that.

“And it’s competing at the highest levels in all these areas, and I think it would probably surprise a lot of folks of the amount of effort, work, attention to detail and financial resources that have been poured into our program.”

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A tip of the cap to West Virginia senior outfielder Brock Wills.

The UNC Wilmington transfer was a mainstay in the Mountaineer lineup throughout the regular season and Big 12 Conference Tournament when he appeared in 50 of 53 games with 45 starts.

When the NCAA Tournament rolled around, Sabins opted to start fellow senior Ben Lumsden in place of Wills.

The decision proved difficult to debate as Lumsden came up with numerous hits in key spots and finished 12-for-37 with three home runs, two doubles, 13 RBI and 11 base-on-balls over 11 games.

Wills, meanwhile, came off the bench to play in three NCAA Tournament games, one of which was Wednesday’s 12-7 season-ending loss to North Carolina when he came on as a right fielder to start the fifth inning.

Wills had three plate appearances against the Tar Heels, the first of which was a well-struck, but tough-luck double play on a liner to second base with the bases loaded in the sixth. He followed it with a walk in the seventh and a single in the ninth.

“So awesome. That kid has been such an instrumental piece of this team,” Sabins said. “In high-level competition, things don’t always go your way. There’s only nine dudes that get to play, and so coaches have to make hard decisions, and that happens every single year. And some years it’s a bigger storyline and some years it’s not, and some guys play good and some guys don’t. And there’s always some mix of that.

“But when things don’t go your way, it’s very easy to cash out. And so when you see a kid that has been so team-oriented and then to get inserted into the biggest game of his career and perform, it just shows you everything that you need to know about character. Because if you cash out, you don’t roll into the highest competition in the world and have success.

“Whether he had success or not, I knew his character. I knew that he was still working, and I knew he was team-oriented, and I knew he was fighting like hell to be great for the Mountaineers, and that’s why he got his opportunity. That’s why it came back around to him.”

For the season, Wills hit .283 (47-for-166) with two home runs, six doubles, three triples and 23 RBI.