Warren Scott MUCH TO SEE AND DO — The Wellsburg Applefest will return to the streets of downtown Wellsburg Friday through Oct. 5, with a variety of food and other vendors, live entertainment and contests and activities for children.

WELLSBURG — In its 46th year, the Wellsburg Applefest has been offering a variety of food, entertainment and things for people of all ages to see and do.

And this year will be no different, when the festival returns Friday through Oct. 5.

Several blocks of Charles Street will be lined with more than 100 vendors selling hand-made items and other merchandise and assorted food, including apples served by the bag and in apple cider, butter and pies.

On Oct. 4, young vendors, age 15 and under, are invited to staff their own booths from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the adjacent Wellsburg Town Square.

Ernie Jack, who with Frank Johnson heads the volunteer Wellsburg Applefest Committee, said there’s no charge for their booths because the experience is intended to expose youth to the practice of operating a business.

The booths may serve to raise funds for various school, church or other youth-related groups, but adults are asked to be involved only with setting up between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. that day.

Those interested in participating can call (304) 737-1599 for information.

This year, the west side of the town square will be occupied by free bounce houses co-sponsored by the Wellsburg Applefest Committee and Weirton Rental Center.

The square also has served as stage for a variety of musicians and other entertainers.

This year’s lineup includes the Wellsburg Primary School Kindergarten at 1 p.m., keyboardist/vocalist Marvin Whiteman at 2 p.m.; the Mount Tabor Collective, a dance group, at 4 p.m.; and country singer-guitarist Roger Hoard at 6 p.m., all on Friday; Donnie D., formerly of the Vogues, at 11 a.m.; crowning of the Applefest Queen and other royalty, at noon; Donnie D. again at 1 p.m.; Elvis tribute artist Robert Dale at 2 p.m.; guitarist-vocalist Mark Henderson at 3 p.m.; vocalist Johnna Leary, a local native who has appeared in film, television and theater, at 4 p.m.; guitarist D. David Stiles at 5 p.m.; and the Ron Retzer Trio at 6 p.m., all on Oct. 4; and guitarist Dan Stewart at noon; the Brooke County Arts Council, the group behind Brooke Hills Playhouse, at 1 p.m.; the Brooke High Dance Team at 2 p.m., the Brenda Casey Dancers at 3 p.m., and the Denizens, a rock band, at 4 p.m.

The Oct. 4 schedule includes chain saw carver Jeff Rosco at 11 a.m. and a hot dog eating contest at noon, both on Seventh Street, and a car and motorcycle cruise, sponsored by Team Ford Wellsburg, from noon to 7 p.m. on Sixth Street.

There will be a pumpkin-carving contest, in which children will be tasked with creating jack-o’-lanterns using safety knives and with the help of parents and other family members, at 2 p.m. on the Town Square.

Among many businesses supporting the festival will be Main Street Bank, which is providing free face painting on all three days, and Traubert’s Pharmacy, which is sponsoring the miniature train rides.

The Brooke County Historical Museum and Culture Center, at 704 Charles St., and the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor Museum, Education and Research Center, within the Brooke County Public Library, have announced extended hours to coincide with the festival.

The Brooke County Museum will be open from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. all three days. Its many displays include recreations of a one-room schoolhouse, a jail cell used by the Brooke County Sheriff’s Department in 1793 and a kitchen from the 1790s.

The ADBC Museum, which will be open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday and Oct. 4, is believed to have the largest collection of items related to prisoners of war who were captured by the Japanese while defending the Philippine Islands and forced to walk the Bataan Death March.

It includes many artifacts from other aspects of World War II.

(Scott can be contacted at wscott@heraldstaronline.com.)