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November 14, 2019

GET CRANKING TO GIVE BACK Get together with friends and family and give back during the Thanksgiving season! Hosted by Bike Wheeling and Brew Keepers, Cranksgiving 2019 is part bike ride, part food drive and p...

Bright Lights, Our City: Get Plugged In to Holiday Spirit

November 13, 2019

City sidewalks, busy sidewalks, dressed in holiday style. … The Wheeling Arts and Cultural Commission wants downtown businesses to dress their buildings in holiday style — in time for the city’s Winter on the ...

Long Haul: Police, Mental Health Pros Grapple With OVMC Closure

November 12, 2019

Editor’s note: As part of ongoing coverage of the fallout from regional hospital closures, Weelunk looks today at what is happening to some of the most vulnerable patients who used to come through the doors at ...

WLU’s Rare Book Returns Home

Christina Fisanick

November 11, 2019

We stood around the podium topped with a glass case like mythical giants peering down at tiny humans, and for me, the moment felt just as magical. It was 1994, and I was in the Nelle M. Krise Rare Book’s Room a...

BILL HOGAN’S MUSINGS: Peace Corps in East Wheeling?

Bill Hogan

November 9, 2019

This is a tough one to get started. There are so many people involved from not only different backgrounds but different continents. ONE: PEACE CORPS When we arrived in Cove, Benin, West Africa, starting our ...

Legendary Barber Recalls 50 Years of Work in Wheeling

November 8, 2019

Ralph Tomlinson was 94 years old when he cut his last head of hair on July 6, 2018. For 50 years, Ralph barbered in Wheeling, 49 of them at his shop on 33rd Street. You might call him a legend. To hear more ...

EVENTS Begin to Ring in the Holidays

November 7, 2019

TREES, WREATHS & GARLANDS! Stifel Fine Arts Center is decorated in red and green glory, filled with a variety of trees, wreaths and garlands for the Festival of Trees. Cast a bid for the fully decorated tr...

WORKING OUR WAY BACK TO YOU: Gerry Reilly on Doing History Right

Phil Gable

November 6, 2019

Editor’s note: Our series, Working Our Way Back to You, profiles Ohio Valley natives who have left town but returned to the community that created them. In today’s story, writer Phil Gable introduces us to Gerr...

TALES OF INDELIBLE INK: Crofts Are ‘Knot’ Your Average Family

November 5, 2019

Writer’s note: Tattooing has been done for centuries for a variety of reasons. Some cultures tattooed for religious reasons; others for branding, healing or punishment. In other cultures, tattoos signified soci...

Planning Is Key to Making Headway on the Highways for the Holidays

November 4, 2019

If the coming holiday season will have you literally traveling over the river and through the woods — even if it’s only to the mall you go — you may want to spend a few minutes planning your route before you le...

ROBERTS RUMINATES: Buzz Off

November 2, 2019

It’s time for school pictures again. That means haircuts, which means considerable whining and negotiation. It’s a necessary chore, but the barber always makes it look easy. “I could teach you how to do it y...

The ‘Wheeling Reads: One Book, One Community’ Winning Book Is …

November 1, 2019

Editor's note: As the clock struck midnight last night, the voting ceased, and the victor emerged ... by just one vote. Did your choice for "Wheeling Reads: One Book, One Community" win? Do you want to have ...

Happy Halloween! Spooky EVENTS and More Around Town

October 31, 2019

BEWITCHING HOUR! Happy Halloween! Watch out for witches, goblins and ghouls, from 6:30-7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 2, during the City of Wheeling's official trick-or-treat hour. (The event was changed from Hallo...

Discriminating Tastes: A Ghostly Tale

Rich Knoblich

October 31, 2019

Editor's note: Storyteller and local writer Rich Knoblich shares a terror-ific tale, just in time for Halloween. East of Wheeling on National Road, near the West Virginia border, is a diner housed in an old,...

Hope and Healing: Serenity Hills Life Center Offers New Recovery Option

October 30, 2019

“Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don’t give up.” — Anne Lamott All Sharon Travis was...

Ginger Tales From a Red-Headed Writer

Stacey Miller Sacco

October 29, 2019

Editor's note: Redheaded men, women and children will be celebrated at the Wheeling YWCA's Ohio Valley Redhead Festival on Saturday, Nov. 2. Here's a first-hand account of being an "awesomely rare" redhead by W...

ONE TANK TRIPS: Unusual Hiking at Piatt Park

October 28, 2019

If you’re looking for unique geology, Ohio has some options. At Hocking Hills State Park in Logan, visitors can explore caves and waterfalls and hike through eastern hardwood forest. It’s a bit of a drive to ge...

Echoes … Of Life on Top of Violet Hill

Anne Hazlett Foreman

October 26, 2019

Editor's note: Last week, Anne Hazlett Foreman shared Echoes ... Of Life Below Violet Hill. Today, we read about life on top of Violet Hill. We moved to the big brown stucco house on top of Violet Hill whe...

Handled With Dignity: Putting the Past to Rest

Kelly Strautmann

October 25, 2019

It took a village to honor an anonymous young girl’s skeletal remains retrieved from the now-closed Ohio Valley Medical Center. Two hospital retirees, a historian, a funeral home, a library and, finally, a ceme...

Couple Makes Strong Case for Dinosaur Project, Wins By a Head at Show of Hands

October 23, 2019

What do you call a T. rex who can’t accept defeat? ... A “saur” — (sore!) — loser. Well, that wasn’t the case for Robert and Libby Strong, proprietors of SMART Centre Market, who pitched their “dino-mite” pr...

Hide and Seek: OV Docs, Patients Trying to Find New Normal

October 23, 2019

Editor’s note: Following the sudden closures of Ohio Valley Medical Center and East Ohio Regional Hospital in recent weeks, more than 1,200 health care workers are on the move. From dietary staff to surgeons, t...

Oddball EVENTS Brewing in Ohio Valley … and Beyond

October 22, 2019

BE AN ODDBALL Hosted by Crittenton Services and Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack, the Odd Ball is a Halloween-themed, haunting bash and a celebration of all things strange! Set for 8-11 p.m. Friday, Oct....

No Shortage of Good Food … and Dinosaurs … at Upcoming Show of Hands

October 22, 2019

One is shooting for a "dino-mite" win. Another is no chicken in this match. A third is really working it for the dough. And the fourth one is hoping for a big serving of votes with a cool side of cash. At wh...

BEFORE YOU GO: From The Variatones to The Four Lovers to The Four Seasons

Stacey Miller Sacco

October 21, 2019

Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi formed the iconic group, The Four Seasons, in 1960. The Jersey Boys, the Tony award-winning musical about the band, is coming to Wheeling, Wednesday, Oct. ...

ECHOES … Of Life Below Violet Hill

Anne Hazlett Foreman

October 19, 2019

Long before my family moved to the brown stucco house at the top of Chicken Neck Hill overlooking Elm Run, I was a resident of Birch Lynn and spent most of the summers on the gently sloping hillside below it. ...

A Natural Pair: The Public Market and Downtown Wheeling

October 18, 2019

Baskets of plump, red apples piled high. Shelves chock full of organic offerings. Carts lined up, waiting for fresh chickens, grass-finished lamb, artisanal cheeses, pickled peppers and fresh-baked bread. It...

Zieggy Tribe Delivers Smiles to El Paso School

October 17, 2019

A big Ziegenfelder smile stretched all the way from Wheeling, West Virginia, to El Paso, Texas, today, when members of the “Zieggy Tribe” shared nearly 1,000 Twin Pops with Tom Lea Elementary. Today’s cool e...

Are You in the Market for Some Fun EVENTS in the Ohio Valley?

October 17, 2019

THIS LITTLE PIGGY WENT TO MARKET! Live music, a pig roast, a 5K and much more are planned as part of the Grow Ohio Valley’s grand opening celebration for the Public Market, a non-profit local and natural foods...

PROFILES IN PERSEVERANCE: Meet Susan Richard

October 16, 2019

Editor's note: In this series, Weelunk readers will meet their neighbors who are successfully navigating the road of recovery. Like any road trip, recovery has stretches of smooth highway as well as the occasio...

WHEELING@WORK: Delbert Striving for Council Clarity

Cassie Bendel

October 15, 2019

Editor’s note: Our series, “Wheeling@Work,” is an effort to provide readers with insight and information into our city government, highlighting the personalities, programs and processes at work within the City ...

Betsy Bethel-McFarland

October 14, 2019

Editor's note: WEEasked some simple questions — and your neighbors, friends, co-workers, acquaintances, even some strangers, answered. Get to know them a little bit better with our fun series, “WEEasked.” Look ...

AS I SEE IT: Cat Tales and Tupperware

October 12, 2019

I pull the ancient yellow Tupperware container from the drawer. The sight of my mom’s writing that spells out “CATNIP” on the lid makes me smile. That old container is one of my favorite things remaining from ...

TIME TO GREEN UP: They’re Back! Recycling Bins to Hit The Highlands

October 11, 2019

Editor’s note: Part of a continuing series on the environment, today’s post checks out how area recycling programs are faring a year after China’s sudden pullback from a role as the global buyer of recyclable c...

A Wonderland of EVENTS Planned

October 10, 2019

DON’T BE LATE! Oglebay Institute’s Youth Ballet Company brings the timeless classic, “Alice in Wonderland,” to life through the art of dance. Performances are set for 7 p.m. Oct. 12 and 19; and 3 and 7 p.m. Oc...

We Scared Up a Hauntingly Special ‘BOO’nus Edition of EVENTS

October 9, 2019

If words like macabre, terror, horror and haunted give you thrills and chills … If you love witches, zombies, goblins and ghouls … then this month is made for you. Check out this monster offering of October eve...

Worby Scholarship Winner Nails Gig With Wheeling Symphony

Ryan Norman

October 8, 2019

"Whenever a group of classical guitarists congregate, you can be sure you will see them filing away and comparing their nails.” For John Marcel Williams, this is a not too uncommon sight. Williams is the classi...

TALES OF INDELIBLE INK: Famiglia Per Sempre

October 7, 2019

Writer’s note: Tattooing has been done for centuries for a variety of reasons. Some cultures tattooed for religious reasons; others for branding, healing or punishment. In other cultures, tattoos signified soci...

BEFORE YOU GO: ‘Beautiful’ Will Make Monday ‘One Fine Day’

Stacey Miller Sacco

October 5, 2019

The Tony and Grammy award-winning musical "Beautiful," about the life and music of Carole King has been gracing the stage of Broadway for five years. While the show will be closing this month in the Big Apple, ...

Little Local Entrepreneurs Following in Famous Footsteps

October 4, 2019

What do Mark Zuckerberg, Matthew Mullenweg, David Karp, Blake Ross and Jo Malone have in common? They were all entrepreneurs at a young age. Now, they are millionaires. Of course, we know Zuckerberg found...

‘Tis the Season to Fall Into a Myriad of EVENTS

Weelunk Staff

October 3, 2019

FALL INTO THE FEST It’s time for everybody’s favorite fall festival, Oglebayfest, set for Friday, Oct. 4, through Sunday, Oct. 6, at Oglebay Park. Just some of the Oglebayfest festivities include shopping at...

PROFILES IN PERSEVERANCE: Meet Susan Hagan

October 2, 2019

Editor's note: In this series, Weelunk readers will meet their neighbors who are successfully navigating the road of recovery. Like any road trip, recovery has stretches of smooth highway as well as the occasio...

Artists Bring Vision to ‘Celebrate Wheeling Invitational’

October 1, 2019

Will we see Suspension Bridges? Park landscapes? Businesses that are no more? The Ohio River or Wheeling Creek? Sculptures of historic mile markers? That remains to be seen when visions of Wheeling will dance r...

WHEELING@WORK: Service, Enthusiasm Highlight Mestrovic’s Parks and Rec Role

Cassie Bendel

September 30, 2019

EARL’S CAPERS WITH KIDS: Fun at the Fair

Earl Nicodemus

September 29, 2019

Earl’s note: Here is another in a short series about things to do with kids. Today, we go to the Ohio County Country Fair. This year's fair is set for Oct. 4-6. The refreshing autumn breeze carries the aro...

From Bored to Blissful: A Thank-You Letter to Wheeling

Jessica Broverman

September 28, 2019

That first sip of coffee, more bitter than I would like, hits my mouth, and I think, that’s all right — I have catching up to do anyway. I take a seat outside of Wheeling Coffee and Spice, just across from t...

FRIDAY TRYDAY: A Trip to Hell on Earth — Wheeling’s Newest Haunted Attraction

September 27, 2019

Editor's note: Laura Jackson Roberts loves a new adventure. And in that vein, we've started our occasional "FRIDAY TRYDAY" series, where she will be trying out and sharing with readers a variety of experiences...

Eat and Drink Your Way Through Area EVENTS

Weelunk Staff

September 26, 2019

CELEBRATE OKTOBER Oktoberfest fills Centre Market from noon to 11 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 28, with live music, food vendors, and domestic and craft beer. Proceeds benefit the United Way of the Upper Ohio Valle...

Remember Musical Chairs? Downtown Wheeling Plays Musical Offices

September 25, 2019

It’s a game of musical offices in downtown Wheeling. West Liberty University will soon be moving its Downtown Center to the former home of the Community Foundation for the Ohio Valley at 1310 Market St., and...

Finding Peace in a Sanctuary of Salt