Late August in Wheeling
An Argument for Why Summer in Wheeling is Not Over Yet
Mid-August each year seems to bring on the restless feeling of summer ending. As teachers and students begin to make their way back to the schoolrooms and the heat and humidity start to show signs of breaking, there comes a feeling of finality that is hard to shake. Sylvia Plath described it perfectly poetically: “August rain is the best of the summer gone, and the new fall not yet born. The odd uneven time.” In Wheeling, this uneven time usually signals that the majority of our annual festival circuit is behind us for the year. The vibrant, high-energy downtown summer feeling is fading. Coffee shops and restaurants have begun releasing fall and harvest seasonal menus. And yet, cool autumnal mornings have yet to arrive and the forecast still calls for plenty of summer thunderstorms and 85 degree days. The city pools won’t even close for almost a month!
So, the question must be asked, why does everyone seem so quick to write off the long summer days of August in a race to get to autumn? Summer will return next year, but it won’t be this summer. And isn’t that alone reason enough to not wish it away? In response to that feeling of ‘summer is over’, when in truth we have over 40 days until the beginning of fall, we have compiled is a curated list of some of the wild and wonderful ways you can spend the last of this year’s precious, beautiful days in Wheeling:
- Attend Mountaineer Brewfest on August 15th
- Make ‘retro summer memories’ at the Throwback Pool Party at Wheeling Park on August 15th
- Take one last Water Aerobics Class at GrandVue Park on August 15th
- Go to a Free Movie Night: “Wicked: For Good” at Heritage Port on August 21st
- Visit Warwood Farmers Market, which runs on Tuesday nights through August 25th
- Go to a Toe Tappin’ Tuesday at Warwood Garden Park, which last though September 1st
- Enjoy live music at Waterfront Wednesdays at Heritage Port, which won’t end until September 2nd
- See a FunFest Fridays concert at Wheeling Park until September 4th
- See films at the WestLiberty University 48-Hour Film Festival September 4th-6th
- Head up to Sunday Funday Concert Series continue through September 6th
- Oglebay’s Labor Day Celebration is the weekend of September 4th-7th
- Ride on a Pedal Boat on Schenk Lake at Oglebay or Good Lake at Wheeling Park through September 7th
- Play mini golf at Oglebay or Wheeling Park through September 7th
- The Pepsi Summer Concert Series on Wesbanco Arena’s patio goes through September 4th
- Oglebay’s Paws in the Park event is on September 12th
- Food Truck Festival at Oglebay is September 19th
- Saturdays at the Market summer concert series goes through September 26th
- The Wheeling Farmer’s Market will last into next season
Summer is ending, but it’s definitely not over yet! We hope that this list has helped convince you to finish out the summer season strong before the parks and pools close and it gets too cold to enjoy your favorite warm-weather activities.
