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Honey Festival makes sweet early visit to City Park

By Wayne Towner 4 min read

PARKERSBURG -- The 2019 West Virginia State Honey Festival kicked off Saturday and will continue today at City Park in Parkersburg.

The festival will run from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. today. Admission is $2 for adults, $1 for children ages 7-13 years and free for ages 6 and under.

Normally held on the fourth weekend of August, this year's honey festival was moved forward one week, said Vickie Marshall, executive director of the Wood County Recreation Commission,

The scheduling change was made to accommodate one of the festival's primary partners, the Mid-Ohio Valley Beekeepers Association which had a mandatory convention scheduled for the fourth weekend. Marshall said the honey festival organizers felt the change in date would not conflict with the Parkersburg Homecoming Festival this weekend since the honey festival is a morning and afternoon event, while the Homecoming's biggest attractions are in the afternoon and evening.

As of Saturday afternoon, Marshall said turnout was going well and few disruptions had occurred from the new schedule. A couple of vendors had prior commitments for this weekend and a couple more were participating in Homecoming, but all of the other vendors and exhibitors who traditionally came to the honey festival were back this year.

The honey festival is now in its 39th year. It features a variety of activities, entertainments and displays. The focus is to promote the honey industry, as well as having crafts, entertainment and Henry Cooper Log Cabin tours, organizers said. The festival is in its sixth year as a fundraiser and program of the Wood County Recreation Commission.

The festival is featuring music, crafts, a honey and wax show, honey and beeswax products, honey extraction and live beehive demonstrations, candle dipping and cooking demonstrations, historical presentations and live bee beards by Steve Conlon. The train ride from Grand Central Mall offered rides around the City Park pond from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. each day at a cost of $3.50 per person.

The Wood County Flywheelers has been coming to the honey festival for three years, said club member Paul Tingler.

"This is history for anybody interested in it," Tingler said of the engine exhibit. "We can show the history of what people used years ago before electricity was prominent everywhere … The response is fantastic, people are really interested in what we bring in."

Tingler said the honey festival exhibit serves as a preview to the Flywheelers' largest event which will be the Volcano Days Festival at Mountwood Park in late September.

The Pioneer Antique Auto Club held its 27th annual Antique Car and Truck Show on Saturday. Organizers said about 127 vehicles were featured in the show, an increase from previous years.

Frankie and Carla Roush, of Coolville, were attending the car show Saturday but also made time to view the honey festival's exhibits, displays and wares.

"We come to the car show every year and enjoy the honey festival while we're at it. They have good treats and good ice cream. The honey ice cream is really good," he said.

The West Virginia State Honey Festival Pageant was held Aug. 10. This year's Little Miss was Shyanne Starkey, the Princess was Alexa Wilson and the Teen was Cyleigh Sampson.

In a new addition to this year's event, the West Virginia State Honey Festival Tiny Tot Pageant was held Saturday morning at City Park. The winners were: Infant Miss, Ellie Shannon; Infant Mr., Brody McKnight; Baby Miss, Darby Dillon; Tiny Miss, Peyton Crouch; Tiny Mr., Brandon Stephens; and Tot Miss, Ember Wilson.

Today's schedule includes:

∫ 10 a.m.-noon: Kids Crafts (Shelter)

∫ Noon: Paper Juliet (Jody Haught and Amanda Emrick); Bee Beard with Steve Conlon (Pavilion)

∫ 1 p.m.: Smith Family

∫ 2 p.m.: Band of Brothers

∫ 2:30-4 p.m.: Kids Crafts (Shelter)

∫ 3 p.m.: Bee Beard with Steve Conlon (Pavilion)

Wayne Towner can be reached at wtowner@newsandsentinel.com

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