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I'm throwing this piece together late Friday morning, which means there's only about seven hours or so before I head over to the Weirton Event Center for this week's installment of the summer concert series organized by the Top of West Virginia Convention and Visitors Bureau.
This is the penultimate concert for this year's series, with Retroactive Outrage and Full Circle Band set to appear. After that, there's only one more performance on the schedule; Jersey, a tribute group bringing the sounds of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band to the stage, on Aug. 4.
Yes, this year's schedule was a little shorter than in years past, but that's OK. I've attended all but a handful of Weirton's concerts over the years, and, quite frankly, the attendance tends to dip significantly in those later weeks of August, with people trying to squeeze in those last-minute summer getaways and our youth getting ready for the beginning of the school year, and, of course, the kickoff of the high school football season. If you have a game at Weir High School or a free concert at the Weirton Event Center (only a couple of miles between the two) and they're both starting around 7 p.m. on a Friday, people have a choice to make.
My personal opinion, this year's Weirton series has been great, providing a mix of just about everything for our residents. There's been classic rock, bluegrass, some R&B, country, Gospel, and, of course the Wheeling Symphony (I was able to stay for their entire performance for the first time in years this time around).
On top of that, they've been bringing in various food vendors, providing a nice menu for those who attend, and, in recent weeks, have been able to offer beer as part of a trial run for future concerts and events.
The CVB has worked diligently the last couple of years to try and bring an eclectic schedule of concerts to Weirton, with new groups as well as returning favorites, keeping an eye on the crowd sizes and speaking with the public to hear more about their interests in musical stylings.
The hope, after all, is to draw growing crowds from local residents and the surrounding region to help showcase what our area has to offer.
I would like to personally thank Rachel Keeney and Sarah Cale for the uncountable number of hours put into making this series happen. I hope the communities of Hancock and Brooke counties realize how lucky they are to have people so dedicated to promoting our area and helping to providing events and entertainment for us.
Also, thanks to Jacob, Anthony, Anne, Brandon, Molly and Ed, who have been there just about every week to hand out drawing tickets and sell 50/50 chances to concert-goers, as well as help with any other task needed. It truly is a team effort to make all of this run so smoothly.
I can't speak to the other concert series in our area, because I've not had occasion to check them out, but these are all good things for our local communities and, if you haven't gone to any this year, I hope you put some of them on your calendar for next summer. (or, at least, check out the ones still coming this year)
The Historic Fort Steuben Concert Series will wrap up Aug. 3 with the Travelin' Witkowskis and New Pure Gold, and Monthly Monday Music Madness, brought together by the Follansbee Chamber of Commerce, has two more shows – Twice as Nice on July 31 and 40 Plus on Aug. 28 – at Follansbee Park.
The Laurel Hollow Park Summer Concerts in Newell are set to wrap up Aug. 12, and there are still a couple concerts at Chester City Park on Aug. 8 and Aug. 22.
Summer is coming to a close, but there are still a few chances to get out into our communities and enjoy some live music.
(Howell, a resident of Colliers, is managing editor of The Weirton Daily Times, and can be contacted at chowell@weirtondailytimes.com or followed on Twitter @CHowellWDT)