Sunday, 9 February 2014

Unveiling The Best Of West Virginia Festivals

By Jerri Perry


There is no better way of understanding the American culture than participating in the local and state festivals and other related events that run throughout out the year. In many ways these events are usually so interesting, and full of fun giving the best opportunity to experience the American culture at firsthand. West Virginia Festivals presents the best opportunity with some of the world famous fairs and celebrations. Here are some of these events.

The State Fair of WV is one of the events you would not want to miss from. It runs for 9 days of August when exhibition of the native economic and cultural heritage takes place. The event is fun filled with family activities, carnival rides, animals, live music, agricultural exhibition, harness racing, nightly concerts, beauty queen competition and bingo contests just to mention a few. It is an annual tradition in Lewisburg, WV that is almost a century old and continues attracting large crowds.

The year 2004 saw the conception of FestiALL festival that now features as one of the biggest in WV. It presents high quality artistic items such as theater performance, wine, food, music, dance, film, visual arts and other exhibitions attracting the local, regional and international artists all dedicated to give the best. It takes place in late June every year in Charleston, WV.

Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting is one event you cannot fail to mention in WV. This award winning event take place at the historical spa Berkeley Springs in the late February every year. It features hundreds of water companies (both municipals and bottling firms) competing for the top price in purified water as voted by participants. It is the largest water tasting competition in the world with participants from across US and around the globe.

The Italian Heritage Festivals in this state are the most unique there is. They focus on showcasing the Italian-American cultural heritage. The first one take place in late July and is known as the Upper Ohio Valley Heritage Festival which is the largest of its kind in this state and second largest Italian event in United States attracting over 175,000 from US and Canada.

The best of the native culture can be witnessed for the Italian Heritage Festivals with the major one being the Ohio Valley Festival in June of every year. This event attracts over 200,000 visitors every year and is considered the second largest in Italian Cultural event US.

The other notable West Virginia festivals are the Mountain State Forest Festival that is celebrated in late September to early October in Elkins, the Mountain State Apple Harvest Festival in mid October at Martinsburg, the Bridge Day in mid October at the New River Gorge (Fayetteville), the Winter Festival of Lights from November through to January in Wheeling town, the Augusta Festival at Elkins WV and the FestivALL in Charleston, WV.

The list of West Virginia Festivals cannot be discussed fully in one article since the state is known for several national and international events that have remained the tourist attraction for decades now. Being part of this celebration is always fulfilling and memorable.




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