Morgantown Magazine - April/May 2014

Lofty Ideas

Luxury apartments in town reach cool, new heights.

FI V E

ces New Pl a ut o k c e to ch

Double Play

What to do with the kids all summer.

For the WVU baseball team, it’s more than a game.

The÷

right now!

to our

M a n y & Va r i e d

10 + T hings

never knew» yo u

about

th e p lac e yo call h o m e u

volume 3

•

issue 4

published by

New South Media, Inc.

709 Beechurst Ave., 14A, Morgantown, WV 26505 304.413.0104 • morgantownmag.com

editorial director

Nikki Bowman, nikki@ newsouthmediainc.com Editor

Laura Wilcox Rote, laura@ newsouthmediainc.com art director

Kelley Galbreath, kelley@ newsouthmediainc.com Assistant editor

Pam Kasey, pam@ newsouthmediainc.com Office & Circulation Manager

Sarah Shaffer, sarah@ newsouthmediainc.com web manager & photographer

Elizabeth Roth, liz@ newsouthmediainc.com Staff writers

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Carla Witt Ford, Elizabeth Roth integrated marketing & Advertising

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Courtney DePottey, Bethany Dzielski, Alexis Kessel, Shawnee Moran contributors

Julie Mills, Rachel Nieman, Stephen Shutts

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Morgantown • APR/MAY 2014

editor’s note

I

love to travel. Discovering new restaurants and bars and stumbling upon a great green space, just to plop down on a bar stool or a patch of grass and take it all in in some strange place—it’s easily my favorite thing to do. Maybe that’s why the last couple of months in Morgantown have been so interesting.

I’ve come across all kinds of new—or simply forgotten—treasures.

Most recently I’ve visited the Real Juice Bar & Café on Pleasant Street (Everything is delicious! Check out the post on the juice bar by our sister publication at wvliving.com/wvfood.) and Green Arch Market on Green Street (page 40). Then I found out about Mundy’s Public House—new and improved to say the least. Since reopening under new ownership in 2013, Mundy’s (page 43) in the First Ward neighborhood has been offering more than 100 beers in a friendly, laidback setting. When our team sat down to plan the April/May issue, we started talking about places like Mundy’s and the Real Juice Bar and thought, “What makes Morgantown Morgantown?” We started talking about local fixtures— not just the university and the sports teams, though also beloved, but the small businesses that make our city unique. That’s when we thought about

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Morgantown • APR/MAY 2014

Mario’s Fishbowl. If one object had to define our city, what would it be?

The fishbowl, we thought, and a trip to Mario’s to photograph our cover was in order. Beer has been served in oversized glasses at the Richwood Avenue institution since 1950 when the building was first a confectionary. The original owners—the Torches—bought the big Weiss goblets from Morgantown Glass Works on Beechurst Avenue. We love the connection—our offices are in the Seneca Center where the glasses were made many decades ago. And we love that later owners, the Spina family, and current owners, the Furfari family, kept the tradition alive. Of course, the Fishbowl has been so successful it expanded to a second location on University Avenue, too.

Every year we talk about our neighborhoods in our April/May issue, but this year we took a slightly different approach. While the Insider’s Guide to Morgantown (page 37) celebrates places like Mario’s and Mundy’s, it’s also a fun tool for new residents or people looking to move to the area.

How many times have we heard people ask about Town Hill Tavern (yes, you should go!) or say they had no idea Star City wasn’t part of city limits? In our cover story we dispel a few myths and let you in on a few secrets (there’s an ambulance graveyard in Sabraton?), all while championing what makes the different pockets of our city stand out. We bring you some of our favorite parks and remind you about some very cool events. With a long winter finally behind us, we hope everyone can get out and discover, or re-discover, what makes our city truly great.

lau r a w ilcox Rote, Editor

Follow us at . . .

facebook.com/ morgantownmagazine twitter.com/morgantownmag instagram.com/morgantownmag

This Issue’s Featured Contributors Julie Mills [Not Your Average Closet] is a certified professional organizer, consultant, speaker, and selfadmitted neat freak. Since 2006 she has been organizing business and residential clients throughout the Mountain State. Julie is a WVU graduate who relocated from Washington, D.C., in 2002. She lives in Morgantown with her husband, Michael, and their two children. Her most unique organizing projects have led her to barns with live animals, riding four wheelers, sorting hundreds of seashells, and discovering an antique pickle jar collection. allsquaredaway.com Rachel Nieman [As the Tire Turns] is a Morgantown native who loves sunshine, lacrosse, and grunge rock. While she sometimes believes her true calling in life is to be a cage fighter, she is well-adjusted to a less vicious calling as a writer and social media specialist for the WVU College of Business & Economics. Rachel was named WVU’s 2012 Top Scholar of Public Relations and is currently pursuing her master’s degree in integrated marketing communications.

Stephen Shutts [Great Spaces] is business owner and interior designer of Stephen Shutts Design. A native of Morgantown and a graduate of WVU, Stephen has a passion for the world of design and believes strongly in the power of design to affect and transform our lives. Stephen is also an avid traveler and photographer, and he enjoys experiencing the world through the lens of design. stephenshutts.com

letters to the editor

A Part of the Best Thank you for putting out such a great magazine and letting me be a part of the Best of Morgantown issue!

It is beautiful! Dina Z Colada, via email

Encouraging Professor I was so proud to see the inclusion of the Honors College’s City as Text course. As an alum of that course, it is one that both individuals with a deep connection to the area and those who are completely unfamiliar with the area can

appreciate alike. Cookie is such an inspiring and encouraging professor, and I was so happy to see long-term effort and passion come alive in the (February/March) article.

Correction In the February/ March issue of Morgantown, Puglioni’s Pasta & Pizza co-owner Nancy Driscoll’s name was spelled incorrectly.

Katlin Stinespring, WVU, via email

Giggling I just saw the (“City As Text”) article and LOVE it!

You did an absolutely fabulous job of capturing the class. It is beautifully written, the photos are just perfect, and both Bernie and I are giggling about the “short bob of silvering hair and the 100-watt smile.” What a kick! I can’t even begin to tell how happy I am with the way you captured the essence and details of the class! Thank you for your super job! Cookie

don’t be shy

WRITE US!

We’d love to hear from you, so send your comments to 709 Beechurst Avenue, 14A, Morgantown, WV 26505 or email us at morgantown@ newsouthmediainc.com.

Schultz, via email

morgantownmag.Com

7

april/may 2014

elizabeth roth

In This Issue

Insider’s Guide

Summer Camp 101

Lofty Ideas

From where to park to neighborhood treasures, we bring you the authoritative guide to life in Morgantown.

Say no to boredom this summer with camps covering everything from science to sports to the arts.

Modern urban living comes to Morgantown with The FireHouse apartments in Woodburn.

55

48

37

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april/may 2014

In This Issue 16

2429 48

20

32 26

70

This Matters 14 Read This

WVU Press re-releases a classic book packaged with a

new book and fresh design.

15 Know This WVU Extension offers information for homebuyers and builders.

6 Do This 1 The CASA Superhero 5K in Fairmont is a fun way to make sure kids who need the most help can get it.

17 Love This This West Virginia-inspired baby’s room will melt your heart.

Departments 22 Who’s This Meet Chris Croucher, the Tire Lady.

24 Organize This Julie Mills of All Squared Away tackles one big closet at New South Media.

25 Support This Cuts for a Cause at Nico Spalon is a growing fundraiser for the WVU Children’s Hospital.

26 Shop This Did you know more stores are carrying vinyl records?

28 Hear This Tobacco, of Black Moth Super Rainbow, comes to 123 Pleasant Street.

18 Try This Relax at The Beauty Bar in Star City by trying one of their many new services or attending a special event like Mommy Mornings.

29 This Matters To . . .

Jessica Maple talks recycling at the Monongalia County Solid Waste Authority.

20 What’s This Positive Spin makes dreams come true with used bicycles.

30 Buy This A historic home near the WVU farm is up for grabs.

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Morgantown • APR/MAY 2014

68

6 Editor’s Note 32 Dish It Out The Regatta Bar & Grille caters to locals and travelers alike at Waterfront Place Hotel.

62 Healthy Living The West Virginia Family Grief Counseling Center offers free counseling in Morgantown.

64 Road Rage Pedestrian safety may improve after this summer’s safety projects on WVU’s Evansdale campus.

66 The U Drones have been a topic of research at WVU for 20 years.

68 The Scoreboard WVU’s baseball team is not just improving its game. It’s improving the community.

73 The Scene 77 Calendar 80 Then & Now Margaret Lopez reflects on a life of teaching and service.

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Morgantown • APR/MAY 2014

Eat / Love / Wear / Shop / Watch / know / Hear / read / Do / Who / what

Backyard Chickens Did you know farm-fresh eggs can be a reality in, literally, your own backyard?

80 Feet

2

How far chickens must be away from residential neighbors, according to Morgantown ordinance.

The number of chickens the City of Morgantown allows residents to keep within coops meeting certain restrictions.

Roar!

8

Egg Rainbow

The approximate number of people taking advantage of the opportunity to own chickens in city limits.

Some breeds of chickens lay pink, blue, and even green eggs.

April 2014

K as a

Nearby stores registered include Mirage Sound in Grafton and The Exchange in Pittsburgh. More vinyl on pg 26. recordstoreday.com

eD ny o

es Ch

Record Store Day is April 19th

t ris m

Source: Backyardchickens.com; city of morgantown

Believe it or not, chickens are the closest living relatives to the T-Rex.

Boozy jelly beans?

Will Morgantown bars soon have jelly beans on tap? The flavor wizards at Jelly Belly have created a beer-flavored (alcohol-free) jelly bean based on a German Hefeweizen. Available at jellybelly.com. fastcodesign.com

Check out Gary’s Comics and More on High Street, Four Horseman Comics and Gaming at the Morgantown Mall, and Comic Paradise Plus in Fairmont. freecomicbookday.com

morgantownmag.Com

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THIS MATTERS

Filling Up! ➼ Imagine a Sheetz fueling station without gasoline, diesel, or any kind of fuel at all except the kind that fuels your body. The regional gas station giant recently announced plans to build at University Place, a new student apartment and retail complex under way at WVU. Sheetz will sell groceries and ready-made food at its 15,000-squarefoot store. Students will be able to fill up on Sheetz signature subs and sandwiches for lunch, grab a smoothie as a snack between classes, or enjoy a coffee during study breaks at the new location. “This is a very special kind of Sheetz experience, and we’re thrilled to be at the University Place Sheetz at location,” says University Place Louie Sheetz, on 304.293.2253 Sheetz Board of uplace.wvu.edu Directors.

ReadThis

A Whole Lot of History A new set of books offers an unparalleled look at the history of West Virginia’s biggest university.

➼ West Virginia history nerds rejoice.

West Virginia In 2013 the WVU Press re-released the 1982 University Press classic West Virginia University: Symbol of Unity in wvupressonline.com a Sectionalized State, not only saving it from out-ofpublication obscurity, but also gracing it with a fresh new design. But that’s only half of it. Whereas the seminal work by William Doherty and Festus Summers is incomparable for anyone interested in learning more about the history of the university, it ends before finishing one of the most exciting chapters of the story—the expansion and development that catapulted WVU to national prominence. That’s where Ronald Lewis steps in with his 2013 Aspiring to Greatness: West Virginia University Since World War II. Considered a set, the two books together contain more than 1,000 pages of little-known facts and long-forgotten stories. As a reader, you’re in good hands. Doherty and Summers were both university historians, while Lewis is current Historian Laureate. written by miriah hamrick

Sweet Tooth

These tots are too good to share. Clutch Wing Shop’s Sweet Pot Tots are a new twist on a classic side. Sweet potato tots are topped with a heap of candied bacon and a drizzle of honey butter for a sweet and savory treat. Don’t have a sweet tooth? Try one of the other five varieties of tots or go for one of Clutch’s Melts— sandwiches with toppings like Cheez Clutch Wing Shop Whiz, homemade pistachio pesto, and 708 Beechurst Avenue fried banana peppers, to name a few. Of 304.212.5403 course, you can’t go wrong with any of clutchwings.com the 25 varieties of wings either.

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elizabeth roth

EATThis

Tip-Top Building From Scratch Shape

THIS MATTERS

KNOW This

Consider these questions before you build your next home.

➼ Finding the perfect location to build a home can be difficult, especially in the land of rolling mountains. Jeff Skousen, WVU Extension land reclamation specialist, says people should consider an area’s geography before falling in love with a house or location. Building on shallow soils, rock outcrops, and floodplains could be a costly mistake, and one that is easily avoided. The last thing you want is to worry your basement will flood every time it storms. Consider how steep hillsides and nearby roads are to avoid problems in winter months, too. “Having some understanding of what you’ll do to that site and how you’ll change the features of it as you build a home can really change the equilibrium on that hillside,” Jeff says.

Jeff advises folks to ask neighbors and tenants questions before they sign on the dotted line, too, as they may notice the smallest details about the property. “They might notice crazy things, like the trees and how the wind blows—these are all things that might influence what house you might build, or what vegetation you might put around the house.”

While WVU Extension offers information for homebuyers and builders in all 55 counties, the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is another service that educates people building homes. “The NRCS employs people who are very knowledgeable about soils and slopes,” Jeff says. “They are really kind and help you figure out whether it would be a problematic site or not. Many times all you have to do is tell them where it is on a map, and they’ll already know what the soils are like there.” written by shawnee moran

Questions to Ask 1 Are there signs of erosion?

This can give you an idea about the stability of your potential structure. Sites with a slope greater than 15 percent will provide serious problems with water runoff and large amounts of topsoil can be carried away.

2 What is the texture of the soil? This can determine to what extent you are able to landscape and garden. The source: Jeff Skousen

thicker the soil, the more likely you will have problems with landscaping and gardening.

3 Can water move through the soil easily? This will help determine what wastewater treatment system you are able to have.

4 How steep is your hillside?

Slope is important to consider for site stability and water runoff.

➼ A recent checkup of Morgantown’s health care costs has revealed the city is in tip-top shape—the home of WVU has been recognized as one of the top 10 most affordable cities in the country for health care. The list was compiled

by Livability.com—a blog that explores small to midsized cities in the U.S. and considers health care data from Esri, a California-based data visualization company. Livability.com ranked Morgantown as the second most affordable city for health care in the U.S., just behind Iowa City.

Among the reasons for Morgantown’s high ranking are its low health care costs (34 percent less than the average American pays), its low cost for primary care physician visits ($75 on average), and its high number of quality hospitals.

1. Iowa City, Iowa 2. Morgantown, West Virginia 3. Mankato, Minnesota 4. Portland, Maine 5. Hartford, Connecticut

Welcome!

➼ When you Community Newcomers first move to a Club of Morgantown different town, morgantownnewcomers.org all of the newness can be overwhelming.

Who do you talk to when friends and family live hundreds of miles away? Change can be challenging, but that’s where the Community Newcomers Club of Morgantown comes in.

This nonprofit club welcomes new residents to the area while sharing the opportunities the city offers.

“The Community Newcomers Club provides an opportunity for new residents to gather socially, to develop friendships, and to assimilate into their new home community,” says Luann Waterson, publicity director. Club membership costs $20 for a year, and members can join up to any of the 16 interest groups, ranging from book clubs to wine tastings to clubs dedicated to coffee or golf, all while meeting new people. It all helps to make the messy process of moving a little less messy and a little more fun. written by courtney depottey morgantownmag.Com

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THIS MATTERS CASA Superhero 5K April 26, 2014. at East Marion Park in Fairmont 304.203.6855 facebook.com/ casasuperhero5kwv

DOThis

Superheroes Unite The CASA Superhero 5K in Fairmont raises money to support child advocates. ➼ Grown men in Spiderman costumes and women dressed as Wonder Woman are sporting capes and tennis shoes. No, it’s not a Halloween party.

It’s the second annual Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) 5K superhero run. This year’s event takes place April 26, 2014, at East Marion Park in Fairmont.

“It’s a really fun, family-friendly event, and it’s unique. There’s nothing else like it in the area,” says Melissa Garcia-Webb, the CASA race director.

CASA is a private nonprofit organization that supports and trains child advocates. These advocates build relationships with children in the court system, working to get them into safe, 16

Morgantown • APR/MAY 2014

permanent homes as soon as possible.

Advocates also make recommendations to the judge about what each child needs to succeed—ensuring the child gets the mental, physical, and emotional help he or she deserves. CASA is a national nonprofit, but each local organization is independent and relies on volunteers.

Three regional CASA programs— representing Marion, Monongalia, Preston, and Harrison counties—join together to make the annual event a success.

While the superhero 5K run is for adults and teens, the event is really about children. The kids’ 1K Fun Run takes place at 9:30 a.m. before the 5K begins.

Afterward the children compete in a

costume contest and enjoy a free carnival.

The Marion County Public Library puts on a puppet show, the FBI hands out kids’ ID packets, and the West Virginia Raptor Rehabilitation Center brings birds for kids to see.

After the kids’ run, the adults line up in their own colorful costumes at the starting line at the Alan Mollohan Gateway Connector for the 5K. “Last year one man dressed up as Clark Kent, and halfway through the run he ripped off his buttondown and revealed a Superman costume underneath,” Melissa says. “It was great.” This year participants have the option of signing up to compete and have their time recorded or just to walk the 5K and support the cause. Organizers also hold an awards ceremony and afterparty. The fastest runners in each category receive medals, and the adults with the best costumes are recognized. Everyone enjoys a buffet-style meal to finish out the day.

Proceeds from registration fees— ranging from $10 to $30 per person—go back into the local organizations to help local kids. “The best part of the day for me is seeing so many people come out to support our agency. Abused children really do need superheroes,” Melissa says. Last year more than 250 participants and several corporate sponsors helped the event raise $14,000 for CASA. “It’s so encouraging to have such great community support,” Melissa says. “The money we raise helps us train and support more volunteers so every child in our region can get an advocate.” written by bethany dzielski photographed by carla witt ford

LOVEThis

Roomful of West Virginia

One Mountain Mama transforms her nursery into a West Virginia wonderland. ➼ West Virginia native Becca

Fint-Clark is proud of her heritage. When she found out she was pregnant with her little girl, she started brainstorming with her husband for a unique theme for the nursery. The couple wanted their daughter to grow up embracing her Mountain State roots, and an idea was born. “We’re both from West Virginia— my husband is from Princeton, and I’m from Aurora. They are two opposite sides of the state, of course, but we thought it would be a really great way for her to learn about the things that make West Virginia special,” Becca says.

“It was something we never saw anyone else do, and we were really excited.”

The West Virginia-inspired nursery in South Park was transformed into the wilderness of Appalachia. The first thing they did to bring the outdoors in was paint the nursery; the walls were transformed to resemble the West Virginia hills and skies.

Most little girls’ rooms are full of stuffed animals, but Becca’s little girl, Aurora, has it even better with bears in coonskin hats, colorful birds, and even a friendly Timber rattlesnake. Becca and her husband started collecting for the baby’s room early on, picking up West Virginia books like Golden Delicious: A Cinderella Apple Story by Anna Egan Smucker and Kathleen Kemly, and M is for Mountain State: A West Virginia Alphabet by Mary Ann McCabe Riehle.

One of the most special items, though, is a crossroads sign made by one of Becca’s friends that includes some of the family’s favorite places—Jackson’s Mill, Aurora, Princeton, and WVU. Becca wanted to incorporate her hometown into the nursery and says the small Preston County town was the inspiration for her daughter’s name. “The great thing about growing up in Aurora is it’s such a small community,” she says. “I’m glad I live in Morgantown.

I consider it my home now, but I’m also

proud to be from Aurora. I want her to appreciate her roots; I want her to grow up knowing she was named for somewhere we love and care for.”

After she picked the name, Becca discovered Aurora was also the name of the princess in Sleeping Beauty. Friends started buying Sleeping Beauty items, and she incorporated it all together in the nursery. But the most special items to her are the ones made by friends and family—like the crossroads sign, a handcarved wooden mobile, a fly fishing lure made by her godfather, and a rattlesnake

made out of a tie given to her by her sister. “We wanted her to be a proud West Virginian, and we’re really proud of the work we did,” Becca says. “I can’t begin to stress how kind people were and how excited they were to help. I had everyone donating things and looking for things for me. It symbolizes the way we are as West Virginians. We help each other, we think about each other, we care about each other, and we do things for one another.” written by shawnee moran photographed by elizabeth roth morgantownmag.Com

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THIS MATTERS

my previous research, and I thought, ‘What if I could bring those two things together and have a space where women could come to take care of themselves?’”

She and John found the perfect space in Star City and went to work. John and their two young sons built the grandiose marble bar themselves, which would serve as the The Beauty Bar in Star salon’s focal point. Nicknamed simply The City brings California cool to B, The Beauty Bar opened in October 2013 Morgantown. and is now a thriving full-service salon offering hairstyling, massage, nail services, waxing, hand-applied spray tanning, and ➼ To Hollee Temple, mother makeup. Sitting around the bar, women and law professor at WVU, the key to enjoy a cocktail or hot coffee and chat with satisfaction for the working mother centers on finding a balance. She even co- friends having their nails done beside them, all while a beautician stands behind authored a book on it: Good Enough is the them styling their hair. A room in the New Perfect: Finding Happiness and back, walled with bright artwork arranged Success in Modern Motherhood. While to look like the inside of a Pinterest board, on sabbatical in California with her accommodates two women sitting side by husband, John, also a professor at WVU, side as they treat themselves to a pedicure. she discovered the business of beauty And then there’s the spa side of the salon, bars—salons that offer hairstyling and where customers can log some quieter meother beauty services around a bar in the time with a massage or a facial. middle of the salon—and the wheels in It’s not just the unique setup that Hollee’s mind started turning.

“It dovetailed really nicely with the work I makes The B special. The wide array of had been doing for many years empowering events held there make it an ideal place women in work-life balance,” Hollee says. “I for working ladies hoping to take a load saw this business concept and thought about off. On Mondays The B offers a free child tryThis

Find Your Balance

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Morgantown • APR/MAY 2014

care program from 9 a.m. to noon in “the lowercase b” room on the spa side. These Mommy Mornings allow busy mothers to take advantage of everything the salon has to offer and indulge in self-care without feeling guilty. Since The B’s opening, Hollee is most proud of providing this luxury for mothers. “Women feel so rushed and hurried in every aspect of their lives, and many of them feel they’re not doing well in any of those aspects. So we thought maybe we could take pressure off of at least one thing,” Hollee says. “We really take pride in the fact that we’re offering that service and we’ve had a really nice reception.”

For the popular Ladies’ Night Out events, held on Wednesdays, The B stays open late. The salon and other local women-owned businesses share in the expense of food and drink and jointly promote these evenings, which are open to the public from 6:30 to 9 p.m. “After we did the first one, we immediately got bombarded with calls from women who wanted to come in and partner with us,” Hollee says. “It’s a win-win because they get a beautiful space where they can come in and showcase their products or network for their company, and we get new people in to come and see our salon.”

THIS MATTERS DESIGNThis

Great Spaces

The B hosts The Beauty Bar a myriad of 3484 University Ave parties, but not 304.598.9200 everything is morgantownbeautybar.com targeted at the grown-ups— the younger crowd of ladies joins in on the fun, too. At California Glam Girl parties, groups of younger girls come in to have their hair and nails done and sip on “mocktails” with their friends. “We have a DJ, so they do karaoke and dance around the bar. It’s just a lot of fun,” Hollee says.

Hollee is excited about bringing the relaxed West Coast vibe to Morgantown.

“A lot of people think of getting their personal services done as drudgery,” she says. “This is not that experience at all.

You’re here to be pampered, you’re here to have fun with your friends, you’re here to be treated like a queen by our staff—and that’s what we’re here for.”

The Beauty Bar is open on Monday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Wednesday from noon to 9 p.m., Thursday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. The salon is closed on Tuesdays. written by alexis kessel photographed by elizabeth roth

➼ I get countless questions from homeowners regarding the proper way to design their homes—“Should I move the sofa to the other side of the room?” or “Do I need art on that wall?” The reality is: There is no specifically right way when it comes to design.

In interior design, architecture, and other fields of visual arts, we use what are known as the elements and principles of design. These are concepts like scale, proportion, balance, color, and rhythm. A designer can use these building blocks to elicit a desired style, emotion, and function just like an artist can when creating fine art.

When I begin a renovation project, I often suggest things like adding or removing walls, windows, and moldings when feasible and favorable. Such changes can make for a vast improvement and give you a strong foundation on which to build the rest of the space with lighting, furnishings, window treatments, and so on.

If you are considering new construction, the time to hire a designer is not when the construction is complete and you are moving in. All potentially associated parties—architect, contractor, interior designer, landscape architect—should be considered and hired from the project’s inception. It may sound excessive, but it’s not. Professionals can save you time and anguish over the many details that must be considered while saving you from making costly mistakes.

In the spa-inspired master bath at bottom-left, the desired sense of serenity and calm was achieved by using a predominately simple, neutral palette combined with clean lines and elegant form. To keep the space from feeling too sterile, we used a watercolor glass mosaic tile, which adds visual rhythm, and accents of black for contrast.

When tackling smaller spaces, we often “think small,” but using fewer, larger objects and features can open the space up dramatically. The original plans for the space at bottom-right called for a single window.

Combining multiple windows into a much grander unit adds impressive scale to an otherwise modest size bathroom. A pale, watery blue on the ceiling accentuates height and gives the illusion the ceiling is almost suspended above the walls. written by stephen shutts

Above In this master bath, a sense of serenity was achieved using a simple palette with clean lines.

Watercolor glass mosaic tile adds visual rhythm.

| photographed by allison

degeorge

right The original plans for this space called for a single window. Combining multiple windows adds impressive scale to an otherwise modest size bathroom.

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THIS MATTERS WHAT’SThis

(Re)cycling Positive Spin gets people in Morgantown rolling in greener ways.

➼ On most weekdays the historic Morgan Shirt Factory warehouse looks empty. You may assume the building behind the skate park in Marilla Park is vacant—there’s an intimidating fence, locked doors, and dark windows. But if you look past the rough exterior you will find hundreds of bicycles inside waiting for a little “TLC” and a good home.

The name says it all—Positive Spin is improving Morgantown one bike at a time. “For this area we’re a unique type of nonprofit organization,” says Jonathan Rosenbaum, chairman of Positive Spin.

“Like a bicycle collective, we receive unwanted bikes, fix them up, and give them away to people who can’t afford them or sell them for a very low cost to fund our organization.”

In 2005 John Lozier, Will Ravenscroft, and Nick Hein founded Positive Spin with the main goal of helping people learn to ride bikes for transportation.

Over the years the mission expanded to include supporting other forms of green transportation—walking, bus riding, carpooling, and riding the Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system. But Positive Spin still has a large emphasis on biking. The organization’s primary source of funding comes from the sale of donated bikes; in most cases volunteers repair the bikes to sell them back into the community.

“We are kind of an ongoing thrift shop, but we’re different because people not only want to come in and buy bikes from us, they want to be a part of the process,” Jonathan says. “We want to be an empowering organization. The objective is to teach people how to fix bikes, and we have volunteers who can help with that process.”

You can donate old Bikes of all colors bicycles to Positive and sizes are paraded Spin and help folks into the showroom who cannot afford to buy new ones. during operating The group repairs hours when people unwanted bikes and can choose the perfect sells them back into ones for them. Bicycles the community.

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generally range from $15 to $150, and Jonathan says volunteers try to get folks helmets, too. While a vast majority of the donations are children’s bikes, there is a good selection to choose from for all ages—especially in the warmer months.

Positive Spin has also adopted Habitat for Humanity’s idea of “sweat equity” in special circumstances, like when someone can’t afford to buy a bike. In exchange for manual labor, people who really need the bikes can eventually take them home for free. A set number of hours making repairs is required and predetermined, and they can work toward their bikes while learning how to take care of them at the same time.

THIS MATTERS

The more people get involved, the more we can grow and bring more to this area.”

Jonathan Rosenbaum, chairman of Positive Spin

In that way, Positive Spin is all about hands-on experience. Jonathan encourages people to drop by the warehouse if they need advice or help repairing their bikes.

The group is run by savvy volunteers and technical associates who can teach anyone the skills they need, and they’ll even share some of their expertise in areas like aluminum welding, brazing, and metal inert gas welding. Positive Spin also supplies the equipment cyclists may need when repairing their bikes, including workstations and basic tools.

Every bike donated to Positive Spin is used in some way or another. Bikes beyond

repair are stripped Positive Spin for parts that can 803 E Brockway Avenue be useful later, like 304.276.0213 wheels, which Jonapositivespin.org than says are among the most broken parts of donated bikes. Depending on the condition of the bike or demand in the community, selected bikes are repaired and donated to third world countries through organizations like Bikes for the World.

Positive Spin works with many organizations across Morgantown, too. When the group partnered with Christian Help for its Christmas Toy Drive Giveaway, more than 100 bikes were given to local children.

Students at WVU have also partnered with Positive Spin; fraternity Tau Beta Pi has been a partner since 2006 and continues to volunteer. Positive Spin works with people throughout the county, from WVU students to students at the Monongalia County Technical Education Center to the BOPARC Junior Employee Development Program, in which kids help disassemble bikes and learn about their parts.

Jonathan hopes Positive Spin can expand even more and that more people become interested in helping the volunteer organization. Donated bikes and helmets are what keep Positive Spin rolling, but the group also needs volunteers to work in the warehouse. “The more people get involved, the more we can grow and bring more to this area,” he says. “We would like to encourage people to come down and learn more about our organization. There are many organizations in Morgantown that have benefited from what we are doing, and that list is increasing. As long as we can keep the process continuing, the benefits to the community can continue as well.”

Positive Spin is open on Saturdays from 1 to 5 p.m. written by shawnee moran photographed by elizabeth roth morgantownmag.Com

21

You can find Chris Croucher, the Tire Lady, at Rainbow Tire just past Star City.

WHO’SThis

As the Tire Turns

More than a catchy jingle, the Tire Lady explains how Rainbow Tire came to be.

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➼ “If I didn’t do anything else, I built a brand,” says the Tire Lady, wearing her signature overalls and red kerchief, her trusty dog Sissy by her side.

She’s known for her signature jingle in the 2008 YouTube video featuring Morgantown rapper 6’6” 240. It has memorable lyrics like, “If your rims ain’t spinnin’ and the women ain’t diggin’ ’cuz they see how you’re livin’, you gotta go and see the Tire Lady.”

The Tire Lady enters the scene first in her trademark garb, and when that isn’t thug enough for 6’6” 240, she returns in a baggy tee, backwards hat, and a gold chain with giant gold letters TL—which she made herself, by the way.

“You have to stay with the times,” she says. The tune lured in plenty of new business, young and old alike, and loyal customers loved it, too.

“Some of my little old ladies thought it was the cutest thing,” she laughs. She recalls one woman in particular who called her to say it was the ugliest video she’d ever seen— but that she’d like to make an appointment right away.

But the Tire Lady’s story goes much further back. In 1984 Chris Croucher had no idea she would one day become the Tire Lady. She opened a small gas station in Pennsylvania next to the Rainbow Tavern and chose Rainbow Service Center for her business name. “I was pumping gas and making a nickel a gallon. This old man named Hank came in every Friday in his Ford pickup.

I’d pump his gas and wash his windshield. He told me I ought to sell used tires,” she says. “I was raised to have manners, so I didn’t tell him he was crazy, which is what I thought.”

Hank was persistent, and each week Chris politely declined until he had an offer she just couldn’t refuse. “One day he came in with a tire machine, an old Coats 1010. He told me if I bought his used tires, he’d give me this tire machine. It was just plain tuckered out. You had to stand back because the thing was so dangerous. It would just let loose and—bam!—throw the bar up against the wall. Sometimes the bar and the tire up against the wall.”

She changed tires like that for a year, and people were buying them left and right. She made $5 off each used tire she sold—much more profitable than a nickel per gallon. A year later she had saved enough money to buy a new machine. “I thought there was something wrong with the new tire machine because it didn’t hit the wall,” she laughs. “It’s a good thing somebody told me that was how they were actually supposed to work.”

THIS MATTERS

We try to take care of females and make sure they feel they did not get ripped off in any way. We absolutely do care, and that makes the difference.”

The new equipment helped her busiRainbow Tire ness gain steam. In 1986 she decided the 304.598.3999 gas station wasn’t worth the trouble so she 622 Blue Horizon Drive moved to Monongalia County and opened rainbowtire.com the first Rainbow Tire store in Dellslow east of Morgantown. By 1989 she was able to buy the property to open her Masontown location in Preston County, where she was given the Tire Lady moniker by a farmer down the road.

Aside from the notorious rap song, Rainbow Tire also has a country jingle that sums up the business. “The jingle says, ‘The Tire Lady takes care of me,’” Chris sings. “That’s really the truth. We strive for customer loyalty every day.”

The Morgantown shop was established in 2008 after research showed folks were coming from as far away as Blacksville in western Monongalia County. The latest venture has been successful, and Rainbow Tire has continued to research to see how to best serve customers. One thing Chris has focused on is building trust with customers—especially women.

“We cater to a female clientele. Over 50 percent of my customers now are women. Ten years ago that was not the case. We try to take care of females and make sure they feel they did not get ripped off in any way,” she says. Women work in both locations, and Chris tells her mechanics to treat each job as if it were their mothers’ cars. “We absolutely do care, and that makes the difference,” she says.

Although she’s in the minority, the Tire Lady says being a woman wasn’t a stumbling block to entering the industry. “I didn’t allow anything to stop me or anyone to discriminate against me. I guess I’d have to say I have a strong personality.

I wasn’t about to let anyone bully me around,” she says. Today she employs 16 people and says they’re all like family.

Chris is known to always have a story to tell, and she says she plans to write a book when she retires—if she retires. She’s excited to see what the future will hold. “I saw another location that would be just excellent for Rainbow Tire,” she says.

“Everyone’s telling me I’m crazy, but I can’t help it. When you’re in business, you get a fire in your belly, and once you have that fire you can’t help yourself.” Rainbow Tire is open Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. written by rachel nieman

| photographed by elizabeth

roth

carla witt ford

Chris Croucher, Rainbow Tire

Walnut Streetscape Now that five phases of streetscaping have brought new life to High Street, the city of Morgantown plans to give Walnut Street a much needed makeover, too. New sidewalks, trees, and crosswalks will give a fresh feel to one of Morgantown’s beloved downtown streets. “The project will improve the overall look of the street and maybe even change people’s perception,” says Damien Davis, assistant city engineer. Part of the challenge of this project will be dealing with a large number of vaults—basements below the sidewalks—that increase the complexity of the job. “We have to determine the structural integrity of the vaults, then fill them in or reinforce the ceilings,” Damien says. The Walnut Street project is supported by a $350,000 West Virginia Transportation Enhancement Grant received in 2012.

The project is scheduled to be completed by late 2015. written by bethany dzielski morgantownmag.Com

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THIS MATTERS AFTER

organizeThis

Not Your Average Closet ➼ Imagine a place full of four-foot tulips, oversized candy canes, stacks of swizzle sticks, and a carousel of carnival tickets. You might envision a scene from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, but these are just a few of the unique items you will find in New South Media’s infamous “prop closet.”

A few months ago I was asked to organize the prop closet at the New South Media office that publishes this magazine as well as WV Living, WV Weddings, and WV Focus.

Closets are straightforward so I jumped at the chance to help. Ever since I was a child I enjoyed making sense out of chaos. For me organizing is about categorizing, solving a problem, and creating efficient solutions.

I arrived at New South Media and was introduced to Sarah Shaffer, office manager extraordinaire. Sarah led me down the hall to the “prop closet.” Much to my surprise, it was not a closet in the traditional sense, but an open loft space, 24

Morgantown • APR/MAY 2014

eight feet up a narrow staircase. With flashlight in hand, I ascended the stairs and discovered there were bins, buckets, baskets, boxes, and an endless assortment of fabrics. I enlisted a few yoga moves in order to shimmy and sidestep around decoupage airplanes, colorful sombreros, and glitter-covered pumpkins. There was even a literal smorgasbord of plastic fruits and vegetables.

I soon discovered there were challenges at every turn and began to realize this might not be so easy after all. Because it was a loft, the prop closet shared space with ductwork, heating vents, water sprinklers, and old wooden beams—all monopolizing my prime organizing space and throwing a curve ball in my game plan. I measured every last inch of useable space and noted every obstacle. This was going to take some strategic thinking and creative solutions.

Where to start? Sarah and I began with the obvious—pull down every last item, lay

it all out, and start All Squared sorting. I assured Away, LLC Sarah there was 304.698.2929 a method to my allsquaredaway.com madness—it had to get worse before it got better. We spent half a day sorting and categorizing the items into clear containers.

Next came the finishing touch—labels. My rule regarding labels is to make them large and label on two sides of the container.

Step two: Maximize vertical space. Plan A was to purchase fixed adjustable shelving, and that would have maximized every last inch of space, but I soon discovered it was not cost effective. Plan B consisted of a combination of smaller adjustable shelving as well as moveable shelving which came to half the cost of Plan A. A second rule of organizing—be flexible and always have a backup plan. With a little sweat and handiwork from my husband, we were able to put up all of the shelving in one afternoon.

The final phase is always my favorite. It is when all the hard work and magic comes together. A new light was hung, bins were relocated on the newly appointed shelves, the fabric was color-coded and neatly folded, and the sombrero found a new resting spot atop the head of a duck. After some creative solutions and a few organizing sessions, the prop closet is now ready for its close-up. written by julie mills

julie mills; carla witt ford

BEFORE

THIS MATTERS

SUPPORTThis

Giving in Style The Cuts for a Cause fundraiser raises money for WVU Children’s Hospital. ➼ A winding brick path leads the way to the front of Nico Spalon—a rambling house-turned-spa complete with a wraparound porch. Inside, the spa is just as inviting. Framed magazines line the walls. An open archway leads to a kitchen toward the back of the building and a spacious sitting room on the other. Pop music plays softly in the background. This is the home of a Morgantown institution, a busy and bustling business. But Nico Spalon is more than just a local favorite—it also gives back to the community.

Since 2009 the spa has been hosting Cuts for a Cause, a one-day fundraiser to benefit the WVU Children’s Hospital.

This unique event offers attendees the chance to get their hair cut at Nico Spalon for $20 or get their eyebrows waxed for $5—all while enjoying music, food, and massages from local vendors. All of the money raised goes to the WVU Children’s Hospital. In past years, a majority of the money has gone toward building a new wing on the hospital.

The Cuts for a Cause fundraiser draws many local participants, from families to

college students. “We have tons of clients coming in—families and really everyone you can imagine. And we have lots and lots of food and music and auction items,” says Nicholas Romanoli, owner of Nico Spalon. “It’s just a busy, fun event. We work straight through; we do not stop cutting hair or performing services for our clients.”

One sign of the event’s success is the sheer amount of money it has raised over the past five years. Since 2009 Cuts for a Cause has raised more than $13,000 for children at the hospital.

The event has also drawn hundreds of participants since it began five years ago. “I would say we’ve done well over 500 haircuts in the past couple of years, because we usually do a little over 100 a year,” says John Whisler, one of the event’s organizers. “Last year was the first year we started doing brow waxes, and we’ve probably done—I don’t even know how many hours we’ve done.”

Besides raising money for kids at the hospital, Cuts for a Cause also helps to raise awareness for children’s health issues.

Perhaps one of the most special touches

during the event Nico Spalon is the artwork that 80 S. Pierpont Road lines the walls of 304.594.1550 the spa—each piece nicospalon.com is handcrafted by children at the hospital. Before the event each year, employees visit the children and help them to create the artwork. It means a lot to the children and to Nico Spalon. “We’ve been fortunate here at Nico Spalon, and we keep growing. We just wanted to give back somehow,” John says. “Since many of our clients have connections to the WVU Children’s Hospital, we visited the hospital to see where our donations would be going.

The visit sealed the deal.”

The Cuts for a Cause fundraiser will be held on Sunday, April 13, 2014. The event is poised to be the biggest event yet, and the spa hopes to raise more than $7,000 this round, so that its total donation will reach over $20,000. “Every year it’s gotten bigger and better,” Nicholas says. written by courtney depottey photographed by nikki bowma n morgantownmag.Com

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THIS MATTERS

A New Spin ShopThis

Vinyl records are making headway in Morgantown.

➼ If you ask locals in Morgantown about the best place to find vinyl music, most will just shrug. “Salvation Army,” they suggest, in a tone more hesitant than sure. In fact, there isn’t a lot of vinyl at Salvation Army currently, but a burgeoning vinyl scene is making records a lot easier to find, if you have the patience for driving across town and nimble fingers for hours of flipping through records in unorganized boxes.

Nathan Gillespie, a vendor in the Mileground market Antiques & Uniques, describes the task as treasure hunting.

Along with fellow market vendor Ken Bussoletti, Nathan wants to create Morgantown’s own record hotspot, and the two are well on their way with, between them, around 5,000 vinyl LPs and 45s amassed in large plastic containers. “We feel like Morgantown needs to have a record hotspot. There are small places here and there, but we need one good spot,” Nathan says. “Records are coming back into style and people are finding the value of this music.”

A year ago Nathan would have never picked up a record and listened to it, but after the gift of a vintage console, he decided to give records a shot and fell in love. “There’s something unique about listening to a record rather than a CD or an iPod,” he says.

With the cyclical nature of fashion, music, and art, it’s no wonder the 1970s staple is again making the rounds. Even local bands are taking a chance on the resurging popularity of turntables and putting out records—literally. Canon Fazenbaker of Morgantown band Rock Bass says the group has had one vinyl release and is planning a second.

“Listening to our album on vinyl really brings out some of the subtle nuances of the songs, especially some of the softer 26

Morgantown • APR/MAY 2014

songs on the album,” Canon says. “I’ve always liked the physical size of records, too. It’s much more a piece of art than a CD is. There’s also something about listening to half of an album and then liking it enough to physically get up and turn it over to listen to the other side.”

Will Foreman of local act Sleepwalker says the band is considering a vinyl pressing of its next album. “I think another factor in the resurgence, which appeals to me, has been a return to the idea of an album as a complete, cohesive work,” he says. “The way you can’t easily jump and repeat tracks on a record seems to have an appeal to it.”

But local acts do struggle with production costs and pressing times. Rock Bass was looking at a price tag of about $1,000 for a 50-record pressing of its first album Garbles and an order turnaround of about three months, compared to two weeks with CDs and a near instant turnaround for digital

tracks. Canon says above Notable the group sold about records in Vintage Videos & Games’ selechalf of those records, tion have included The and most purchases Rolling Stones’ Beggars Banquet, first edition, have been made via priced at $39; Crosby, iTunes or streamed Stills, Nash & Young’s on Spotify, an online Déjà Vu, priced at $39; music streaming Grand Funk Railroad’s E Pluribus Funk, priced at application. Brett Carpenter of Sleep- $39; and three sealed Misfits first editions. walker and Ancient Shores, another local act, says everything from the mastering of the record tracks to printing the sleeves and art for records is more intense. “If you are impatient, pressing vinyl can be a lousy experience. If you are willing to wait, it’s everything you could think of and more,” he says. “Vinyl is art.”

Since the birth of the skippable-track CD player, iTunes, and mp3 players, artists have struggled against the singleminded listener for full album dominance.

THIS MATTERS

Local Vinyl Vendors Antiques & Uniques

1867 Mileground Road, 304.381.4678 Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

Nathan, whose space is on the first floor of the market building, has a wider selection and says he doesn’t focus on one particular genre over others. He encourages customers to visit the space just to browse and listen to music, no purchase necessary. Ken, on the second floor, focuses on classic rock ’n’ roll. Ken also has a selection of records for sale at Pickers Paradise in Fairmont.

Both Ken and Nathan buy records with on-the-spot pricing. Ken sells records priced between $1 and $5.

Nathan’s records, unless individually priced, go for $3 for one record, $10 for 5 records, and $20 for 20 records.

Sanders Antiques

399 Grafton Road, 304.212.5412 Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.

Sanders Antiques owner Ray Sanders sells a smaller selection of vinyl records, including 33 LPs and 78s, focusing on classic rock from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. His selection includes albums by The Carpenters, Santana, Fleetwood Mac, Randy Newman, classical recordings, and movie soundtracks.

All are priced at $4.

It seemed the battle was over when The Smashing Pumpkins’ front man Billy Corgan declared the studio album dead and began releasing single tracks. But now that computer disc drives are heading the way of the floppy disc, CD players are finding themselves dumped in thrift shops.

Turntables have moved up to vintage cool, and artists and music sellers are seeing more demand for vinyl records as both music and art.

“I think we’re getting closer to a time where more people might have a turntable than a CD player, being that a lot of laptops are getting rid of them,” Will says. “That aside, most bands who sell their stuff on vinyl also include download codes for the digital version, which is really how a CD would end up anyway—a bunch of tracks ripped to a hard drive.”

A major question for Morgantown is where even to find a record store. With no dedicated venue, folks have to forage. “I do think Morgantown could support its own local record store for sure,” Canon says. “If Keyser can support one, then Morgantown could.” The Keyser record store, Solar Mountain Records, has been open for nearly 10 years and boasts more than 30,000 records.

In addition to Nathan’s and Ken’s stands at Antiques & Uniques on the Mileground, there are a few more options in Morgantown. Vintage Videos & Games has been a staple on High Street since 1997 when owner Lee Ann Riggleman and her husband first opened their doors, and the shop

recently expanded into records.

Responding to customers’ repeated requests, the store began carrying vinyl at the end of 2013. “We try to carry a bit of everything,” Lee Ann says. “We were just going to carry a small selection. By customer request we thought we’d dip our toes in and it’s just exploded.”

Vintage Videos customer Michael Fowler scooped up three sealed first edition Misfits albums just as they were hitting the shelves. Already a regular of the store, Michael says he’s been coming to Vintage Games since the store’s opening, but has significantly upped his visits since it started selling vinyl records. “This is pretty much it,” he says of the selection in Morgantown.

“If I can’t get something here, I go to eBay.” Ray Sanders of Sanders Antiques has also seen increased interest for vinyl records, a fashion that had largely petered out by the 1990s and early 2000s. “People have started asking for them over a couple of years and we’ve started picking up inventory,” he says, noting that most of his customers looking for vinyl records are college students.

Will Morgantown ever get its own stand-alone record store? Time will tell. “Although I wish someone would step it up and bring a reasonable record store to Morgantown, people need to be supportive for this sort of thing to come to fruition and survive,” Brett says. written by katie griffith photographed by elizabeth roth

Vintage Videos & Games 214 High Street, 304.296.8273 Monday–Friday, noon–6 p.m.

The store buys and sells vintage vinyl using its store credit system and prices seller offerings on the spot. Records range from 16s to 33s to 78s, with pricing starting at free and topping at $200. “Even if a record isn’t in a condition we could sell, it can go into a free bin,” Lee Ann Riggleman says. Vintage Videos & Games also sells record players when they’re in stock.

morgantownmag.Com

27

HEARThis

Tobacco The experimental electronic icon from Black Moth Super Rainbow brings his psychedelic new solo record to Morgantown. ➼ When I sat down to call Thomas Fec—aka Tobacco, aka front man for experimental band Black Moth Super Rainbow—I was nervous. Past articles described him as an “enigma” or said that, actually, he “doesn’t do interviews.” I psyched myself out before picking up the phone. But when I dialed the number—presumably his cell phone calling into his home in Pittsburgh— Tom was perfectly pleasant, other than sounding like he’d just woken up.

“That’s part of the myth,” he says when I stumble through thanking him for taking my call. “It’s not that I don’t want to do interviews; it’s that no one wants to interview me, I guess,” he laughs.

News about Tobacco has picked up recently. A new album drops on May 13 when Ghostly International releases Ultima II Massage, and Morgantown is poised to hear a lot of new music before it comes out when Tobacco takes the stage at 123 Pleasant Street on April 12. “It’s definitely the most intentionally difficult thing I’ve ever done,” he says of his new work. “I know that’s not always the smartest thing to do, but I feel like I’ve made so many albums between Tobacco and Black Moth.

28

Morgantown • APR/MAY 2014

But that last Black Moth album—it was instantly accessible—so I wanted to go the opposite way and make something that was really messed up and that won’t present itself to you on the first listen. You might be turned off on the first listen and never listen to it again, but hopefully, if you do pick it up again, it’ll be rewarding.” Tom says he’s already working on another album, too, that likely won’t come out for a couple years.

The first Tobacco album was released in 2008 and was recorded using all analog equipment. The album also featured a guest appearance from hip-hop artist Aesop Rock.

Rolling Stone called Tom’s solo debut “one of the year’s best stoner-rock records.” In 2010 Tobacco released Maniac Meat, which was, perhaps, an all-time high for Tom as it featured Beck on two tracks. “The whole Beck thing I feel like almost happened too soon because there’s nothing for me that could ever top that,” he says. “He’s kind of the reason I do what I do. He’s the first guy I heard as a kid that was so different from anything else. The music was homemade.

It’s the same approach I have—doing whatever you want to do, almost like as the id. I don’t even have any aspirations to work with anyone anymore. It’s like, what’s left?”

Typically Tom just writes what he writes, not necessarily sitting down to work on music for one album or another, and not specific to Tobacco or the more widely popular Black Moth Super Rainbow. “For this record that’s coming out, I was making it during the same time as the Black Moth record so I was curating, picking what songs would go where. But the next one I’m writing, I have something in mind for it, and this is the first time I’ve ever had something in mind.”

From 2010 until Black Moth Super Rainbow’s Cobra Juicy in 2012, Tom curated carefully. His favorite songs— the weirder, darker tracks—he saved for Tobacco. “Anything I finished that I thought people might like and that was a little easier to digest, I put that on the Black Moth album.”

Tobacco last performed in Morgantown in 2010. For Tom, the gig at 123 Pleasant Street is his home show. “It’s so close. I feel like I haven’t found the right venue in Pittsburgh where I live,” he says.

When he’s not touring, he keeps a low profile in Pennsylvania, not that he has to. “Nobody knows or cares who I am in Pittsburgh. We get recognized in other cities, but I’ve never once been recognized in Pittsburgh. It’s great,” he says. “I don’t think we’ve ever really been known in Pittsburgh because I didn’t pay my dues in Pittsburgh; I didn’t come up in Pittsburgh. We couldn’t really get shows there. We had no choice but to play overseas and tour. We sort of came up around the country.”

In Morgantown, Hood Internet and Oscillator Bug will also play the April show.

Tom calls Oscillator Bug a “wild man.”

“You just have to see it,” he says. “People who like what I do will appreciate what he’s doing. It should be a night of nonstop, inyour-face electronics.” written by laura wilcox rote

How is performing as Tobacco different? “With Black Moth there are four other people on stage and we’re all relying on each other to do what you’re supposed to do and make it work. With Tobacco I can do whatever I want. If I want to entertain myself by making really horrifying noises, I can,” Tom says. “I love the freedom.

We’ll have a bass line and a beat prerecorded so it can never really fall apart. At the Morgantown show I’ll have a drummer with me, too, and then I can just sort of go off.”

What are you listening to now?

Vlad Tepes (now defunct French black metal). “I’m trying to find a lot of cassette tape black metal. Whenever you hear the next album (that I’m working on now) I think you’ll hear that . . . stuff where guys were just recording in their basement.”

Did you go to many shows growing up in Pittsburgh? Were you influenced by the city? “I didn’t. I can count the number of shows I went to in Pittsburgh on my fingers,” he says. “My parents, when I was in high school, got me a CMJ subscription, and that always came with a free mixed CD. I took it in that way.”

Courtesy of JD White ManagemenT

THIS MATTERS

THIS MATTERS

ThisMATTERS TO

Jessica Maple ➼ As executive director of the Monongalia County Solid Waste Authority (SWA), Jessica Maple sees a lot of trash.

In fact, last year the SWA processed 4,789 tons of it. The amazing thing is that not one bit ended up in a landfill. Every bit of cardboard, plastic, and metal received at the SWA is recycled into things you wouldn’t believe—like facial tissue, carpet, and car parts. It might be easy for the average resident to forget about what happens to the things we toss out—after all, there isn’t a single landfill in Monongalia County—but for Jessica it’s a daily concern.

On the challenges “In West Virginia, recycling is not big. Where I grew up in Wood County, no one ever talked about recycling.”

On looking to the future “If we don’t have people who are open-minded, thinking forwardly, we’re not going to have a place to live.”

written and photographed by elizabeth roth

On getting the job “You have to have a vision,” says Jessica, who’s been at the SWA two years. “I finally just looked at them and said, ‘I’m the perfect person for this job.’”

Jessica’s Recycling Tips Start Small It’s easy to throw things away, but much harder to recycle. Don’t take on too much at once. Ease into a recycling routine so you don’t get overwhelmed.

On her passion for the environment “I think about all the trash that runs through the transfer station, and then, what can I divert from there? I’m raising my son to be an outdoors person,” she says. “I want him to be able to not worry, ‘Are they going to take the next hollow for another landfill?’”

Be Organized Your recycling pile can easily get away from you. Set up labeled bins for each thing you want to recycle— cardboard, aluminum, paper, etc.

Bag & Go Dump each of your bins into a bag to take to one of 11 drop-off points in the county.* * For a full list of drop-off points, see morgantownmag.com.

On the benefits of recycling with SWA“You are keeping your community clean, you are putting people to work. I mean, we are part of the economy here in Morgantown.”

morgantownmag.Com

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THIS MATTERS

1540 Stewartstown BUyThis

Road

➼ History lies in every brick and floorboard of 1540 Stewartstown Road. The story begins in 1784 when Jacob Bowers opened Bowers Tavern near Cheat Lake. Legend has it George Washington ate a chicken dinner at the tavern in 1784.

The log structure remained in place for more than 150 years until 1959 when Marvin and Helen Hughart hired builders to take the tavern apart and reassemble the chestnut logs in Morgantown. They added on to create a house—the tavern’s stone chimney is authentic to the period but not to the tavern, as it was originally part of a stagecoach inn. Many years ago Henrietta Murdock, a Kingwood native and former interior design editor for Ladies’ Home Journal, also provided antique wallpaper depicting a hunt. Adding to the history of the house, the fireplace surround and cabinetry in the dining room were salvaged from a Pittsburgh mansion. Later owners restored the building, adding granite countertops to the beautiful woodwork, stone walls, and antique iron rod fixtures.

The unique two-story, three-bedroom home maintains the historical character of days gone by, but it also has the latest modern conveniences. “You get the old history, but the house is up-to-date,” says owner Beverly Robinson. A large country kitchen with a new gas stove, fireplace, and hardwood floor is perfect for an amateur chef. A dining room with a fireplace and a bay window encourages relaxed meals, and the tavern portion of the home serves as a large family room. A brick courtyard with wrought iron fence adds to the uniqueness of the house. “This would be a great home for a young couple or an older couple, or it would make a great office space,” Beverly says.

The house is located in a wooded area overlooking WVU farm and is a short drive from downtown Morgantown. written by bethany dzielski photographed by zella horseman 30

Morgantown • APR/MAY 2014

$310,000 2,786 square feet Agent Zella Horseman Horseman Realty LLC 304.685.3453

THERE’S MORE! 1.25 acres, off-street parking, four fireplaces, radon mitigation system, storage attic, countertop range, laundry room

AD

morgantownmag.Com

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Dish It out

The Regatta Bar & Grille is conveniently located in Waterfront Place Hotel with access to the rail trail and views of the river.

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Morgantown • APR/MAY 2014

Dish It out

Relaxed Regatta

A nautical-themed restaurant on the Monongahela River offers a relaxing setting with savory entrees and sweet treats. ➼

I

f the restaurant world is a regatta, then Patrick Duffy has won the race. The Pittsburgh native and chef at Regatta Bar & Grille in Morgantown is making waves inside the restaurant at Waterfront Place Hotel.

Here, sizzling steaks and exquisite cocktails have been enticing diners near and far for more than 10 years, as the restaurant caters to locals and weary travelers alike. The Regatta serves its regulars and fulfills room service requests for 200-plus hotel rooms. “You want the locals to come, but you also have to keep the hotel guests happy. That’s the biggest challenge of my job,” Patrick says. “If WVU’s football team is playing Texas, you might have a group of Texans eating dinner. You just never know.”

To appeal to everyone, Regatta offers a diverse menu, with everything from creamed chicken and biscuits to a center cut filet of beef. For lunch, the grilled chicken quesadilla is popular, as are the grilled cheese and Patrick’s famous tomato basil soup. One of the most popular dinner entries is the baked macaroni and cheese—with the option of adding lobster. “The lobster macaroni and cheese is my favorite. I have it for dinner every other night,” says Marissa Amoruso, manager at Regatta Bar & Grille. The seared Atlantic salmon—served with cauliflower-potato puree, bacon, and Brussels sprouts—is also a hit, but Patrick’s favorite is the pork loin. “We roast it until it’s rare then slice it and grill it. It’s served with a sweet potato and root vegetable hash,” he says. Then there’s the Friday crab and prime rib buffet. Just going for appetizers? Try the Boursin cheese puffs and stuffed peppers or the pad thai calamari—perfectly crispy and topped with a sweet chili peanut sauce. For dessert, the coffee crème brûlée and the flourless chocolate cake with mocha rum sauce and fresh raspberries are equally tempting.

Patrick has wanted to be a chef since he was a teenager.

At 15 he was working as a dishwasher at the Perry Town Tavern in Pittsburgh. “I looked at the chefs and thought, ‘I don’t want to wash dishes. I want to do that,’” he says.

Determined to pursue his dream, he enrolled at the New England Culinary Institute in Montpelier, Vermont.

Then he spent several years working for restaurants across the country. He was working at Table 26 in Palm Beach, Florida, when he and his wife decided it was time to move closer to family. “We had a 15-month-old son, and we didn’t have any help down there,” he says. His morgantownmag.Com

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Dish It out

family planned a vacation in Pittsburgh that doubled as a job-hunting trip. But then Patrick stumbled upon an ad for a chef opening at the Regatta Bar & Grille in nearby Morgantown. He set up an interview during his vacation and moved to Morgantown in July of 2013.

After Patrick settled into his new role, he made some improvements at the restaurant—updating the organizational system, improving cleanliness, and ensuring a higher quality of ingredients. “For me it’s really about focusing on the food,” he says. “Food trends and cultures are constantly evolving, and you have to be able to change with them.” Patrick has altered the menu four times since he’s been there, and he plans to continue changing the menu seasonally. “I only use the freshest produce and seafood,” he says. “I try to source from local farms as much as possible—using local tomatoes, corn, and other vegetables.”

But the people are perhaps the best part of the job. “We’ve developed a culture at the Regatta. We work as a team,” Patrick says.

As head chef, he recognizes the importance of keeping not only the customers happy, but the kitchen staff, too. Marissa worked at the Regatta for years before Patrick became chef. “It’s been a good transition,” she says.

“And the food has been great.”

The spacious restaurant can accommodate all kinds. It’s great for business meetings, family gatherings, or date nights. A private dining room can be used for special occasions like rehearsal dinners. And when it’s warm outside, the restaurant provides outside patio seating overlooking the Monongahela River and the rail trail. “It’s someplace you can go on a special occasion, but it’s also pretty casual,” Marissa says. Patrick agrees. “The stigma is that we’re an expensive restaurant, but it’s not true. We’re casual American dining. It’s not pretentious. You can get the macaroni and cheese for $12, or you can order the filet. There’s something for everyone.” written by bethany dzielski photographed by elizabeth roth

Chef Patrick Duffy dishes it out

TOMATO BASIL SOUP

clockwise from above Patrick’s

favorite item on the menu is the grilled pork loin. The roasted beet salad is a great way to art off dinner.

Patrick says the menu will continue to change seasonally.

1 white onion 2 garlic cloves, mashed 1 teaspoon each of dry basil, thyme, oregano ⅛ cup canola oil ½ cup tomato paste 6 Italian tomatoes, peeled Salt and pepper, to taste ¼ cup granulated sugar ½ quart heavy cream 1 ounce fresh basil leaves 1 cup parmesan cheese

1. Cook onion, garlic, and dried herbs in canola oil, until tender.

2. Add tomato paste, tomatoes, salt, pepper, and sugar.

3. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 30 minutes.

4. Remove from heat and add cream, basil, and cheese.

5. Blend the soup in a blender, until smooth.

6. Check for seasoning.

7. Garnish with chopped parsley, extra virgin olive oil, and parmesan cheese.

Yield: 10 servings .

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Morgantown • APR/MAY 2014

How well do you know your state?

Be in the know by subscribing to West Virginia Focus, a new small business and policy magazine from the publishers of WV Living.

Our mission is quite simple: build a better state one issue at a time. wvfocus.com/subscribe 304.413.0104

Subscribe online at or call

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Morgantown • APR/MAY 2014

The÷ E X CEEDIN G LY O F F ICIAL

to Our Many & Varied

NEI G HBORHOODS ! written by

LAURA WILCOX ROTE

Our ‘Hoods« SOUTH PARK

FIRST WARD

pg.38

pg.43

GREENMONT

SABRATON

pg.40

pg.44

WILES HILL

WOODBURN

pg.41

pg.45

SUNCREST

CHEAT LAKE

pg.42

pg.46

photographed by

ELIZABETH ROTH

You can guess a lot about a person from where they live. South Park? You love walking downtown for a bite to eat. First Ward?

You take the kids to the park every other day. Suncrest? Your toughest decision is what’s for dinner with so many options. Cheat Lake? Life is quiet, but modern. No matter where you live, Morgantown begs to be explored beyond just your neck of the woods.

There are great little bars and ice cream shops, quiet parks, and quirky hidden treasures everywhere you turn. Live like an insider with this unsanctioned, but oh-so-much-fun guide to the city.* *Guide is in no way comprehensive.

South Park

M ORE

MON COUNTY

h o s p i ta l i t y a n d h i s t o ry at e v e ry t u r n

Granville

Population 781 at the 2010 Census.

Originally a coal mining town, Granville was incorporated in 1947.

Did you know the town was once called Mona?

Star City

you k now t h e r e ’s h istory h e r e — you

see it everywhere you look. Time slows down as neighbors walk their dogs past Morgantown High School (MHS), and even this big red-brick building is historically significant and aesthetically pleasing. One of two major high schools in the city, MHS has been in its current location on Wilson Avenue since the 1920s. The South Park Historic District has more than 500 historic buildings, and even locals find new, special places each time they walk this neighborhood. While it seems you can discover a new view of Morgantown every time you go for a drive (a trip up Buckhannon Avenue offers a great vista), there are also many hidden green spaces to enjoy. We recently discovered King Street Mini Park—a little more than one-acre open field with a red swing set, picnic tables, and plenty of room for the kids and dogs to roam (pictured above). Don’t expect to find parking particular to the playground, though; it’s simply a nice, quiet park for folks nearby. Many homes in South Park are also an easy jaunt to downtown dining.

While South Park feels vast, we often wonder about the true boundaries of our neighborhoods—the written ones versus the way we think of them.

Many people consider a large swath of the area over the Walnut Street and Pleasant Street bridges to be South Park, but in fact, that area makes up multiple neighborhoods. Up Grand Street and beyond South Park are Hopecrest and South Hills, while nearby Greenmont is the area mostly above Brockway Avenue, up Kingwood Street, and down to Deckers Creek.

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Morgantown • APR/MAY 2014

general Area South of Deckers Creek, Kingwood Street, Cobun Avenue, Jefferson, Lincoln, Elgin, Grand to Grandview

Schools Mountainview Elementary, South Middle, & Morgantown High*

interesting fact Every August the South Park Association of Neighbors sponsors a giant yard sale that takes over most of the neighborhood’s porches, sidewalks, and lawns. *Find a full map of schools at croppermap.com/ monongalia/

Population 1,825 at 2010 Census. The city was incorporated in 1907. Most recently, locals have been wondering about the now vacant land on Boyers Avenue, where there used to be a day care and several old houses.

Those properties have been torn down, and Mayor Allen Sharp says, “We do plan for the area to be developed. The plan right now is to get the infrastructure put in, meaning a new sidewalk and lighting on Boyers Avenue. Right now we have the area seeded, so we hope it will be a nice looking area.”

Did you know Star City got its name from the Star Glass Company along the river? Its early population was made up of workers primarily from there and Seneca Glass.

Westover

Population 3,983 at 2010 Census. The city was incorporated in 1911. Westover got its name from its location on the west side of the Monongahela River.

Th e I n s i d e r’s G u i d e to Mo rga ntow n

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September 26, 2014.

Downtown businesses stay open late to showcase local art.

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from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. downtown and in the Wharf District.

w h at’s t h e d e a l w i t h t h os e CO BU N AV E

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BLue curbs?

If you’re a homeowner in city limits and your neighborhood has blue curb parking, you may be eligible for two yearly passes and one visitor’s pass. Proof of ownership required. Call 304.284.7435.

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nikki bowman; kelley galbreath

the corner of Spruce and Fayette streets from 8 a.m. to noon, Saturdays from May 3 to November 1.

Parades— so many parades! The Homecoming Parade in October and Christmas parade in December are among our favorites.

Wine & Jazz Festival

Easily Morgantown’s most talked about festival, September 27—28, 2014 wvwineandjazz.com

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medexpress Kids Day Kiddies will take over

downtown July 19, 2014, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with 60+ great events.

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What is Chancery Hill?

WIL SO N AV E

Notice a lot of fancy plaques

on some of the houses in the South Park area? The Chancery Hill Historic District is a national historic district in Morgantown. The district includes more than 100 contributing sites, including many historic homes in an area developed in the early-20th century on property that was once the farm of U.S. Senator Waitman T. Willey.

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Greenmont a bevy of local monuments

fo u r

gorgeous v i e ws

buckhannon Avenue A drive up Buckhannon Avenue provides some sprawling views.

Dorsey’s Knob park Just off of U.S. 119, they call it Sky Rock for a reason.

richwood avenue See over Woodburn, Sabraton, and more on a trip up this thoroughfare.

rocktop bar and grill Take a look over downtown Morgantown.

The Corner Store G r e e n A rc h M a r k e t fi l l s a vo i d i n G r e e n m o n t.

general Area Mostly above Brockway Avenue, up Kingwood Street, to Deckers Creek

Schools Mountainview Elementary, South Middle, & Morgantown High

interesting fact Kern’s Fort, now an apartment at 305 Dewey Street, was the site of one of Morgantown’s earliest forts in 1774.

But you’d never know it. Now old logs are covered with wood clapboard.

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you don ’ t se e m a n y

corner stores anymore, least of all independent ones in Morgantown.

So when Matthew Smailes was walking around Greenmont with his young son and passed the old upholstery shop with a For Rent sign in the window, he knew it was an opportunity too good to pass up.

He called the number on the sign to ask about the building on the corner of Green and Arch streets.

When the owner said, “You don’t want to rent this place. You want to buy it,” Matthew said he’d try.

Green Arch Market opened on Valentine’s Day 2014 and word spread quickly. “The neighborhood doesn’t have anything like this,” Matthew says.

“We’re bringing fresh produce and hot food to the neighborhood.” He bought the building in August and started work right away to get the proper permits and begin remodeling.

The small market sells everything from soda, beer, and wine to staples like milk, cereal, pasta, and even cat food. But it’s not just a store. Green

Morgantown • APR/MAY 2014

Arch Market also has a nice menu that changes frequently for people who walk in hungry or call ahead for pickup or delivery. In late winter, Chef Kevin Kiszka was incorporating fresh yellowfin tuna into the menu, while a favorite like the triple grilled cheese sandwich was staying on the list of about seven delicious options.

The chef has a long history of cooking in Morgantown, as a former sous chef at Sargasso. His family also once owned Glasshouse Grill and Flying Fish & Co. for many years. Kevin and Matthew, whose background is in catering and who also works parttime as a server, met at Sargasso and worked together there for three years. “The stress level is next to nil,” Kevin says from behind his stove. “This gives me a chance to work a little bit closer with the public.

We had an open kitchen at Sargasso, but there was never really time to talk like this.” Kevin also grew up in the neighborhood and went to the old Second Ward Elementary. “I used to play G.I. Joes around back,” he laughs.

Menu items at Green Arch Market are fresh and made from scratch. Matthew says they are also working with a hydroponics business in the neighborhood to grow some of their own produce in addition to purchasing from the local farmers’ market.

A gr and opening fo r G r e e n A rc h M a r k e t w i l l ta k e p l ac e Ap r i l 12 , n o o n t o 5 p. m .

Th e I n s i d e r’s G u i d e to Mo rga ntow n

Parks a few favorite green spaces dorsey’s knob park

WE ALL SCREAM fo r i c e c r e a m !

Let’s be honest, knowing where to get some of the best ice cream or fro-yo is vitally important to our well-being. Where are some of the best sweet treats?

cold stone creamery 356 High Street

dairy Castle 345 East Brockway Avenue

Dairy Queen 442 High Street; 688 Fairmont Road, Westover

mountaineer country ice cream 659 Point Marion Road

Naticakes 1030 Suncrest Towne Centre Drive

Rita’s italian ice 7000 Mid-Atlantic Drive

rebecca devono photography; elizabeth roth

Smitty’s kountry kreme 1616 Earl L. Core Road; 1137 Van Voorhis Road, Chelsea Square

TUtto gelato 755 Chestnut Ridge Road

Sweet Frog 4121 University Town Centre Drive

Reach the clouds at Sky Rock at this 70acre park with lots of amenities. Off of U.S. Route 119 Hazel Ruby McQuain riverfront Park

Trails, amphitheater, and the place for fireworks. Monongalia River, downtown Jack Roberts

Four acres with playing fields, basketball court, and playground. Madigan Avenue, First Ward Krepps Park

Playgrounds, picnic area, dog park, and public pool. Laurel Street, Suncrest Marilla Park

Tennis courts, pool, playing fields, skate park, and trail access. East Brockway Avenue, Sabraton Suncrest “lake” Mini park

Picnic and playground in one half-acre.

Woodland Drive, Suncrest White Park

Baseball fields, ice arena, and trails. East Parkway, First Ward Whitmore park

Morgantown’s oldest park. Preston Road, Woodburn

Wiles Hill

and highland pa r k

dev elopm e n t is h a ppe n i ng a l l a rou n d the Wiles HillHighland Park neighborhood, and while many residents may not be thrilled, they are committed to preserving their place in the world.

“The neighborhood is changing,” says Richard Dumas, past president and current board member of the Wiles Hill-Highland Park Neighborhood Association. He says the Morgantown Homecoming group—which promotes home ownership in areas like Wiles Hill, Greenmont, and other neighborhoods by purchasing single-family homes, rehabilitating them, and then selling them—has purchased several houses there. “That’s a very positive thing for the neighborhood. We’ve also seen several properties that general Area were rentals being converted back into singleStraddling family homes.”

Willowdale, from Increased development seems to contribute Jones Avenue to to students moving out of houses and into new McCullough Lane apartment buildings, freeing up some of those old Schools homes, Richard says. He says some in the neighNorth Elementary, borhood worry about the amount of development, Suncrest Middle, & but they remain hopeful that they’ll be able to Morgantown High maintain the quiet, friendly feeling of Wiles Hill.

“We really want to preserve the quality of life we interesting fact have here,” he says, adding that the area is diverse Wiles Hill School was for Morgantown. “We have a mixture of students, built in 1910, with families, and older people. Yesterday there were additions in 1939 and 1952. It closed three or four kids out playing out in the street and in 1999, but BOPARC it’s a closed off area. We want to preserve that.” took it over to house Richard says the working class neighborhood is the Wiles Hill Senior made up of small mission- and arts and craft-style Community Center. homes built in the early 1900s. He’s lived here for Now seniors can 20 years. “You need to have a place where you can gather there for tea or billiards. just have a house and raise a family.” morgantownmag.Com

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Suncrest endless possibility

l o n g, l o n g ag o, s u n c r e s t wa s u n d e r wat e r .

M o r e r e c e n t ly, t h e r e wa s a s m a l l l a k e .

“we skated there as kids,” says Matthew Cross, president of the Suncrest Neighborhood Association. “I learned to play ice hockey there in the late ’70s ... It was a great community asset. A dirt bank provided an open fire pit for folks to warm themselves and the city bus would drive by that route. Everybody loved to skate there. It’s really sad it disappeared.”

Matthew is talking about a small lake—or pond, really—that used to be on Woodland Drive near Eastern Avenue in the Suncrest neighborhood. Matthew says the area of state Route 705 where Health South is now located is still known as the Flatts, which may have been prone to high water levels before the Burroughs Run waterway was constructed, directly channeling water to the small lake. He recalls that it filled in with sediment after the stadium was built, though he’s not sure that was the reason.

Know You Go

Stefano’s

This may be located B e fo r e downstairs and underneath a bowling alley off of Chestnut Ridge Road, but do New in town? These not dress for bowling. This is easily are some common one of Morgantown’s finest dining misconceptions we establishments. Make a reservation, would love to clear and make yourself presentable. We up for you. recommend the Spigola.

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Morgantown • APR/MAY 2014

Bordered by Patteson Drive, Van Voorhis Road, Star City, and the county line and includes New Suncrest and Virginia Manor

Schools North Elementary or Suncrest Primary, Suncrest Middle, Morgantown High

interesting fact Suncrest was named after “the early sunrise in the community occasioned by reason of its location at a high altitude,” according to the West Virginia Blue Book and Morgantown History Museum.

Town Hill Tavern

For years, some of us wondered about this place. Is it scary?

No! Turns out, it’s one of the friendliest places in town and packed with history as the neighborhood bar to go to on Willey Street since the 1930s.

We recommend the Morgantown martini—a frosty mug of Pabst Blue Ribbon garnished with a pickle spear.

Varsity Club

This is no dive bar by the football stadium, and it’s no boring sports bar either. While sports paraphernalia adorns the walls, service is top-notch, you can choose from more than 100 beers, and the food is good, too. Try the General Tso’s wings.

elizabeth roth; nikki bowman

Another Lake?

general Area

Records at the Morgantown History Museum trace a wild and waterfull Suncrest back much further, according to Michael Mackert, assistant coordinator at the museum. Traces of ancient lake bottom conditions still exist in the Suncrest area and according to the museum, Suncrest “lay on land relatively level for Monongalia County and, according to state geologists, had been the bottom of Lake Monongahela, of the Pleistocene ice age.”

These days, we can hardly keep up with Suncrest. There’s always something new in this vast neighborhood—The Wine Bar at Vintner Valley opened in 2013 to offer the finest wines and charcuterie with upscale service, while just across the way, the Suncrest Cafe on Collins Ferry Road, long known as the Nickel Pub, offers easygoing service for folks who just want to kick back.

In 2000 the White House Millennium Council designated Suncrest as a Millennium Community. A century ago the area was made up of homes on beautiful farmland, but housing developers influenced the growth of homes in the area during the first decades of the 20th century. The names of some streets reflect the community’s participation in service organizations like Civitan, Kiwanis, Lions, and Rotary.

First Ward

TOP BARS

an eclectic neighborhood

neighborhood

apothecary ale house & Cafe Biggest beer selection. No one’s a stranger. 227 Chestnut Street

crockett’s lodge Food, beer, and a laid-back atmosphere. 3395 University Avenue

gene’s beer garden Beer, hot dogs, and live music. 461 Wilson Avenue

Mario’s fishbowl A fishbowl of beer and good company go a long way. 704 Richwood Avenue

Mundy’s public house New, improved, and 100+ beers. 669 Madigan Avenue

suncrest cafe Known as The Nickel, get a burger on Texas Toast.

3192 Collins Ferry Road

town hill tavern Have a 34-ounce domestic beer and a steak sandiwch.

998 Willey Street

varsity club Sports fan or not, 100+ beers and good eats.

910 Willowdale Road

The New Mundy’s M u n dy’s Pu b l i c H o u s e i s n o t w h at yo u t h i n k . I t’s b e t t e r . i n t h e m i ddl e of t h e w e e k , it’s quiet inside Mundy’s Public House in First Ward. The bartender and owner chat as reruns of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia play in the background. More than 100 beers fill the menu, and there are hot dogs with homemade chili and popcorn with a plethora of possible seasonings. Board games, books, and video game systems are on standby. If you’ve lived in Morgantown awhile, you might be confused.

“It is really hard to rehab the reputation of the place,” says owner Eric Brown, who bought the building in December 2012 and reopened the old bar as Mundy’s Public House in summer 2013 after extensive renovations. Mundy’s is one of the oldest bars in town, dating back to 1949 and named for its original owner, Mundy Liberatore. Over the years it’s had several owners and seen tough times.

“This place was a hellhole,” Eric laughs. “It needed massive amounts of work.” Eric grew up in the neighborhood, moved to Pittsburgh to go to culinary school, and moved back to the First Ward neighborhood years later. Even he didn’t like going to Mundy’s. “It was rough. When I found out they were interested in selling I jumped at the chance. I just wanted a nice place for people in the neighborhood to come.”

Eric loves craft beer and has made it his mission to get as much as he can while not alienating anyone.

He offers bottles from Rogue Ales, Great Lakes Brewing, and dozens of beloved craft breweries as well as Bud Light bottles, Pabst Blue Ribbon tall boys, and even a selection of wine. And his taps are always rotating. Local bands play on weekends with no cover charge—they pass a hat for donations.

They play on a stage Eric built after he ripped out an old gambling room. Mundy’s also hosts open mic nights every first and third Thursday of the month, and the bar often hosts private events.

In the middle of an eclectic neighborhood, Mundy’s caters to townies, students, and newcomers alike. “What I tried to do is make a place where every single person is welcome and can have fun and feel safe. general Area This place was notorious for fights before. We’ve had exactly one since I took over, and that was the first week.”

Eric says he changed the name to Mundy’s Public House to reflect his hopes. “The word pub comes from public house,” he says. “The original public houses in England were a gathering place for the neighborhood to come together, drink homemade beer, and talk about neighborhood issues.

That’s what I want this place to be. A place where people can get together, have fun, and drink beer.”

Dorsey Avenue to Greenbag Road

Schools Mountainview Elementary, South Middle, & Morgantown High

interesting fact Giant oil tanks in White Park were struck by lightning and caught fire at least five times between 1899 and 1939. You can see photos at Morgantown History Museum.

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Sabraton

Loyalty RoyaltY

A pl ace all its own —and more

e q ua l s

Did you know the following local businesses reward loyalty? You can be sipping and eating free in no time!

Black Bear Burritos Buy 11 meals from special guest menu and get 12th free.

Blue Moose cafe Buy 10 coffees, get 1 free.

Chico’s fat burritos Buy 10 burritos, get one free.

the cupcakerie Buy 6 regular cupcakes, get 1 free.

daily grind wv The sixth ward of Morgantown is made up of several neighborhoods—Sabraton, Norwood Addition, South Hills, and Jerome Park among them, according to Andrea Soccorsi, president of the Jerome Park Neighborhood Association.

Andrea says many people who live in other areas of Morgantown have long been confused about the different neighborhoods around Sabraton. “For years I’ve been throwing fits about this, but I finally gave up. Sabraton is what everybody knows because it’s the commercial neighborhood. We are the adjacent neighborhoods,” she says. “We do get lumped in, but Sabraton is its own distinct area that really began as an industrial district. Many people who worked in that area lived in Jerome Park and Norwood Addition and even Woodburn for that matter.”

What strikes us about the area is its lovable quirkiness. There are all kinds of hidden gems on that side of town. For instance, did you know about the ambulance cemetery on Greenbag Road off of Deckers Creek Boulevard? It’s on the lot of Escort Leasing and shows off a collection started decades ago by Harold Berthy, according to employees there. You’ll find old fire trucks, ambulances, a milk truck, and the list goes on. Unrelated but also interesting, on Sturgiss Avenue (Sabraton used to be known as Sturgiss City) behind the BB&T there’s a charming old-time Esso service station.

Besides the commercial stretch, most people probably know this area for Marilla Park, home to a recreation center, skate park, and access to Deckers Creek Trail. The 45-acre multipurpose area includes an outdoor pool with water slides, youth baseball fields, tennis courts, and basketball courts.

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Morgantown • APR/MAY 2014

Schools Eastwood or Brookhaven Elementary, Suncrest Middle, & Morgantown High

interesting fact The old white vehicle pictured above is said to have been used in the film Shawshank Redemption, according to employees at Escort Services.

They say the car didn’t run, so when you see it in the film, it’s actually being pushed or pulled.

the tea shoppe Buy 10 ounces of tea, get 1 free.

Mother India 6th lunch or dinner buffet free.

New Day Bakery Buy 12 loaves, get 1 one free.

table 9 Lunch 8 times and the 9th is free.

terra cafe Buy 10 cups of coffee (or 10 smoothies), get 11th free.

cassia king

w e a r e set t i ng t h e r ecor d st r a igh t.

Buy 9 cups of coffee and get the 10th cup free.

Th e I n s i d e r’s G u i d e to Mo rga ntow n

What’s that

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i n yo u r p o c k e t ?

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APOTHECARY GIFT LOYALTY CARDS New Day Bakery, CERTIFICATE A free drink at one of the best bars in town makes a great gift, don’t you think?

Black Bear Burritos, The Grind WV—we are racking up the loyalty points in this office.

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MASSULLO’S TICKET This dry

cleaner has long been on High Street, but there is also a location across town.

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PARKING TICKET

Does that orange envelope look familiar? Parking tickets start at $5, but don’t forget to pay. They quickly jump in price.

LOOSE CHANGE

Did we mention those pesky parking tickets?

Change is a must, even as more local lots are accepting credit cards.

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MORGANTOWN PUBLIC LIBRARY CARD Support your local library and never lose your card again with this handy identification.

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WVU STUDENT REC CENTER ID

Students, faculty, and staff take advantage of state-of-the-art workout facilities and more.

Woodburn woodbu r n pack s h istory a n d ch a r m .

carla witt ford

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Like most of the area, it was originally farmland. The neighborhood grew rapidly at the start of the 20th century as tinsmiths traveled from Wales to work in the tinplate mill. Back then, a trolley ran down Richwood Avenue and connected downtown with Sabraton.

Then, of course, there’s Mario’s Fishbowl (seen on the cover), with a story that date backs to 1949 when the building at 704 Richwood Avenue opened as a confectionary that sold groceries and ice cream and had beer on tap. Today there are two Mario’s Fishbowls, but the neighborhood spot in Woodburn continues to be packed on any given night. You can get a “fishbowl” of beer, order up some wings or other favorites, and pore over the good ol’ days as reflected on the walls in scraps of paper left by customers over the decades.

FRIENDS OF DECKERS CREEK

Zipper pulls once given to members as thank you gifts are now coveted Morgantown schwag.

h isto ry and charm abound

General Area Above Richwood Avenue, including Monongalia and Charles avenues, into Whitmore Park

Schools Eastwood Elementary, Suncrest or Mountaineer Middle, Morgantown High

interesting fact Actor David Selby grew up in Woodburn.

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Cheat Lake wat e r a n d v i e ws ga l o r e !

MEmorable MOMENTS m o r ga n t ow n

1 Dinner on the roof

of the Historic Clarion Hotel Morgan at The Montmartre Restaurant, clarionhotelmorgan.com 2 Taking in a show

at The Metropolitan Theatre, morgantownmet.com 3 A stroll on the rail trail

in the Wharf District, downtownmorgantown. com/wharf 4 An afternoon at Tugboat Depot

General Area East of Morgantown, encompasses area surrounding the lake, a 13-mile long reservoir

Schools Cheat Lake Elementary, Mountaineer Middle, University High

interesting fact Cheat Lake was originally named Lake Lynn, but the name changed in 1976.

46

ev e ryon e k nows a bou t ch e at l a k e .

It’s big, it’s beautiful, and many million-dollar homes are within close proximity. It’s where Morgantowners go to take out the boat and feel a thousand miles away. The lake itself was formed in 1925 by damming the Cheat River to establish a hydroelectric generating facility.

While Cheat Lake is one of the most affluent places in West Virginia, it’s not all fancy schmancy. There are some real down-to-earth people and pastimes, too. In particular, The Whippoorwill Bar & Grill begs to be discovered. “We’re simple,” says Heather Thayer, who owns Edgewater Marina as well as The Whippoorwill with her husband, Brian. “It’s nothing real fancy, but that’s how we like it. Someone called it a dive one time and we said, ‘Great. That’s our favorite kind of bar.”

The Whippoorwill Bar & Grill is a small but clean and friendly place on Cheat Lake. Boaters and their friends come in to grab a shrimp basket or a burger and fries, while mojitos and margaritas are popular all summer. On weekends, live music plays. While “The Whipp” is still a secret to much of Morgantown, it’s grown vastly more popular over the years since the Thayers purchased the property in 2006 and added the bar and restaurant. “We have 200 people docking boats on any nice weekend, but we were surprised that so many people who are not necessarily boaters like to come out,” Heather says. “There is nothing else like it out there. It’s right on the water. But it’s become way more popular than we ever thought.”

Heather says an afternoon at The Whipp is like a vacation in Morgantown, and growing up on the lake, that’s what she always wanted—a laidback place to hang out. The Thayers named the bar and grill after a dance hall that was there many decades ago. “It was rumored that Dean Martin played out there. It was a pretty big deal back in the day,” Heather says.

The Whipp will re-open in May depending on weather.

0 Mont Chateau Road, cheatlakedocks.com

Morgantown • APR/MAY 2014

Playground and coffee at Terra Cafe next door, starcitywv.com/parksrec. html, terracafewv.com 5 A long walk

on the Deckers Creek Trail, montrails.org 5 exploring the vast open space

and countless trails at the West Virginia Botanic Garden, wvbg.org 5 cheering on the wvu football team

during the first home game of the year at Milan Puskar Stadium, wvugame.com

Th e I n s i d e r’s G u i d e to Mo rga ntow n

What neighborhood are you? f i n d yo u r p e r f e c t m o r ga n t o w n m at c h , i n a f e w e a s y s t e p s

preferred mode of transportation? wa lk i n g o r bi k i n g

driving

outdoor recreation priorities?

I’m A _______ at heart.

r a i l tr a i l acc ess

ple nt y o f pa r k s

ru r a l r etr e ate r

are you a student?

historic homes?

CHEAT LAKE

y es

no

sunnyside first ward i wa nt to be a s c los e a s p oss i ble

woodburn

proximity to downtown?

lov e th e m!

south Park le av e th e m

proximity to downtown?

A quick d r i v e is fi n e

tow n i e

n ot th at i mp o rta nt

pr et t y i mp o rta nt

neighborhood Size?

sabraton

bi gg e r is Bet te r!

sm a ll is su pe r!

SUNCREST

EVANSDALE

wiles hill/ highland park morgantownmag.Com

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f Lo y t Apartment living at The FireHouse reaches new heights.

IDEAS

wr it ten by

Laura Wilcox Rote photogr aphed by

Elizabeth Roth and Furnace Hill Photography 48

Morgantown • dec/jan 2013

D

own a side street in the Woodburn neighborhood, almost within view of the original Mario’s Fishbowl, are some high-end apartments you might not expect to find in Morgantown.

Completed in June 2013, The FireHouse apartments on Werner Avenue are modern to say the least, with high ceilings and exposed beams, pipes, and concrete floors. Each unit is unique in layout, with floor-to-ceiling windows or a private rooftop patio, but all are unified by a red and gray color scheme and attention to simple, modern details.

“There was an underserved rental market in Morgantown, a niche market, which is basically made up of young professionals,” says developer and Morgantown native Kris Knowles. “They will pay more for a higher-end product, something with some aesthetic and design value to it, and with higher quality materials and creativity put into it.”

The FireHouse is Kris’ newest project and the most luxurious of his undertakings to-date. He has other small developments throughout town, like the

Pietro Street Lofts, Richwood Lofts, and Woodburn Lofts. They’re all part of what he calls Morgantown Modern—a collection of architectural, loft-style residences designed with green living in mind, having been rehabilitated or built to standards not often seen in the area.

But some people may know Kris from his earlier work at the Daily Kneads, now New Day Bakery.

He started Daily Kneads in 2000 and sold it a few years later to take his work in a slightly different direction by getting his contractor’s license. “A lot of people knew me from the Daily Kneads. I segued from that into renovating property.” For example, the Pietro Street Lofts was an older, turn-of-the-century building he bought, gutted, renovated, and rented out.

“Basically I went from running a bakery to building a rental business and being a contactor,” he says.

Before building The FireHouse, Kris had taken a few years off when he got the itch to do something again. But this time he wanted it to be even bigger and better. “It was a very stressful project and quite expensive,” he says. “I only wanted to start something

T O P The FireHouse has six one-bedroom apartments and one two-bedroom unit.

Each has a different layout.

L E F T The FireHouse apartments have high ceilings for an open, loft feel you won’t find many places in Morgantown.

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People come in to Morgantown from all over the place and are looking for something that simply didn’t exist here before.”

Kris Knowles

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Morgantown • dec/jan 2013

if it was worth doing, something different and creative.

This entire project—from its aesthetic, conceptual, and living perspective—is really something you would expect to see in the Pacific Northwest. There’s a movement of architecture there that has a specific look to it, and I was kind of going for that.”

His efforts have paid off. All of the units at The FireHouse are rented, even the one-bedroom penthouse that goes for more than $1,600 a month. Like the other apartments in the building, it has quartz countertops and high-end appliances like a stainless steel five-burner gas range and Bosch dishwasher.

Upstairs the master bath has double sinks and a large custom shower with dual showerheads for two people.

Hunn Cabinet Co. out of Morgantown did all of the

FROM OPPOSITE L E F T A community garden is one of the things that makes FireHouse living special. Entry into The FireHouse apartments is extremely secure, with cameras always on watch and a passcode required to get in the door.

custom woodworking. All of the apartments are built with couples in mind, and Kris says high-efficiency pumps like those used in Europe and Japan are used for heating and cooling. All of the units have washers and dryers. Outside, you must have a code to enter the building and security cameras keep watch over the premises.

“What I wanted to do with this project was up the ante,” Kris says. “People come in to Morgantown from all over the place and are looking for something that simply didn’t exist here before. There are a lot of apartments and townhomes out there, but nothing like this.”

Kris is also interested in the community aspect of modern living. He wants people to step out of their apartments and get to know each other. Part

of that is the community garden at The FireHouse.

Everyone gets a raised bed, and this year residents can try composting. The name FireHouse also reflects community. “I was going for the idea of small neighborhood firehouse meets modern,” he says. “I wanted to do something I thought would invoke that small neighborhood feeling—starting from the garage doors outside and going from there.”

You may see more of Kris’ work in the future, too. He owns a small lot in the Wharf District that he’s considering one day developing into highend, one-bedroom apartments. “I have some notion of extending this concept down there,” he says. “But that is a very initial dream right now.” morgantownmodern.com morgantownmag.Com

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Morgantown • dec/jan 2013

Morgantown's

written by

Courtney DePottey It’s almost that time of year again —time to figure out which obscure

cupboard you stashed your sunscreen lotion in last year, dig out your swimsuit, and perhaps buy a big floppy hat. But maybe most importantly of all, it’s time to plan a funfilled, jam-packed summer for your kids before they get out of school and say, “I’m bored.”

But don’t stress. This back-to-the-basics guide to summer camps in the Morgantown area will have your kids signed up for a fun summer in no time. Whether you’re looking for a traditional camp complete with campfires and roasted marshmallows, an artsbased camp for aspiring artists, or a sports camp, we’ve covered all of the bases.

Afternoon Swim Option: For an additional $75, participants in both sessions can extend their camp experiences at the Marilla Pool from noon to 6 p.m.

INTERNATIONAL FLUTE SYMPOSIUM WVU SCHOOL OF MUSIC

VIsual & Performing ARTS Camps

Available for students ages 12 and up, this camp offers young flute players the chance to learn from flutists and professors of international renown, as well as the opportunity to attend daily concerts. ➼ The camp will take place from July 16 to 20. Prices range from $355 to $620, depending on housing and private flute lesson options. 304.293.6946, music.wvu.edu/special_summer_programs

KEYBOARD FESTIVAL AND COMPETITION WVU SCHOOL OF MUSIC

ARTS IN THE PARK BOPARC

This camp is designed for children entering first through eighth grades (fall 2014) who love paint and the world of art in general. School-aged children also get the opportunity to swim at Krepps Pool, weather permitting. ➼ The camp runs from June 23 to 27, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Cost is $185. 304.296.8356, boparc.org

P.I.T.A. CAMP BOPARC

This three-week program is perfect for rising actors. The “People Interested in Theater and Acting” camp is available for beginners (session one), as well as intermediate and advanced actors (session two). ➼ Cost for each session is $275. 304.296.8356, boparc.org Session I: Designed for children and teenagers entering second to 12th grades, this program takes place on weekdays from June 9 to 27, 8:30 a.m. to noon.

Session II: Designed for preteens and teenagers entering fifth to 12th grades, this program takes place on weekdays from July 7 to 25, 8:30 a.m. to noon.

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Morgantown • APR/MAY 2014

This festival celebrates the intersection of jazz and classical music with performances, workshops, panel discussions, and competitions. Featured guest artists include Harold Danko and Christopher Taylor as well as WVU faculty. ➼ The festival takes place June 23 to 27.

Registration to apply for the competition is $65. 304.293.6946, music.wvu.edu/special_summer_programs

RUNNING WITH ANIMALS ART CAMP BOPARC

Campers don’t literally run with animals at this weeklong art camp, but they do get to create animal-inspired tiles and mirror mosaics, and they can make their own spray paint animal paintings. Running with Animals is designed for students entering sixth through eighth grades. ➼ The camp will take place July 14 to July 18, 8 a.m. to noon. The cost is $150.

Afternoon Swim Option: For an additional $25, children can extend their camp experience with swimming at Marilla Pool from noon to 6 p.m. 304.296.8356, boparc.org

SUMMER ACTING ACADEMY

WVU COLLEGE OF CREATIVE ARTS This is a weeklong program for actors of all experience levels, ages 13 to 18. Classes take place at the WVU Creative Arts Center and are taught by WVU faculty as well as guest artists. ➼ The program takes place from June 23 to 27. Registration is $25 and tuition is $275. 304.293.2020, theatre.wvu.edu/summerdance

SUMMER DANCE ACADEMY

WVU COLLEGE OF CREATIVE ARTS

ROUND N’ ROUND ART CAMP BOPARC

Kids entering first through third grades will have a blast at this half-day camp, as they create their very own glass mandalas, make plaster sand castings, and even have fun with spin art. Round N’ Round runs from July 21 to 25, 8 a.m. to noon, and takes place at the Wiles Hills Art Studio. ➼ Cost is $150. 304.296.8356, boparc.org Afternoon Swim Option: For an additional $25, children can extend their camp experience with swimming at Marilla Pool from noon to 6 p.m.

This weeklong dance program is split into two age groups.

The Young Academy is designed for participants ages 5 to 10, with daily instruction in ballet, jazz, tap, hip-hop, and creative movement. ➼ Classes are held at the WVU Creative Arts Center from June 16 to 20. 304.293.2020, theatre.wvu.edu/ summerdance The Teen Academy is an in-residence program for participants ages 12 through 18. The program offers daily classes in technique for a variety of dance styles as well as private coaching. Three years of prior dance experience is required. ➼ Classes are held in the WVU Creative Arts Center, and housing is available. 304.293.2020, theatre.wvu.edu/summerdance

SUMMER ACTING CONSERVATORY

WVU COLLEGE OF CREATIVE ARTS This in-residence program is designed for the most talented high school acting students who are serious about pursuing careers in theater, television, or film. High schoolers take classes in acting, voice and speech, dance, stage combat, stage movement, improvisation, and masks. Room and board are included in the total cost of the camp ($930). ➼ The camp takes place from July 13 to 20 at the WVU Creative Arts Center. 304.293.2020, 304.293.2020, gerald.mcgonigle@mail.wvu.edu

in East Marion Park. ➼ The class will be held at Learning Options, Inc., in Fairmont from July 14 to 18. learningoptionswv@ gmail.com

WHAT DOES THE BOX SAY? ART CAMP BOPARC

This unique art program is the perfect fit for aspiring artists in fourth through

WVU PERCUSSION CAMP

MAGIC BOXES— INTERACTIVE ART CUBE EDDIE SPAGHETTI MAIER AND SANDY CRESS

This workshop is geared toward kids ages 5 to 9. Children will learn how to make sculptures out of repurposed half-gallon milk and juice containers, using processes like screen printing, drawing, painting, collage, and pass-around art. ➼ Class will be held at Learning Options, Inc. in Fairmont from June 16 to 20. learningoptionswv@gmail.com

TILE MOSAICS

EDDIE SPAGHETTI MAIER AND SANDY CRESS This workshop is geared toward kids ages 9 to 14. Children will explore area wildlife for inspiration in designing mosaics and then create their own mosaics on a lamppost

Afternoon Swim Option: For an additional $25, children can extend their camp experience with swimming at Marilla Pool from noon to 6 p.m.

Specialty Camps

WVU COLLEGE OF CREATIVE ARTS This in-residence camp is designed for teenagers and young adults from ages 14 to 21 who have a passion for playing percussion. Campers will stay at Lincoln Hall on the WVU’s Evandsale campus, and hone their music skills at the Creative Arts Center. ➼ The camp takes place from June 16 to 20. Cost is $608, and covers registration, housing, and meals.

304.293.2020, george.willis@mail.wvu.edu

sixth grades. What Does the Box Say? is designed for participants to explore 3D art, modern art techniques like dripping paint, and basic sculptural techniques. ➼ The program meets at the Wiles Hills Art Studio from July 28 to August 1, 8 a.m. to noon. The cost is $150. 304.296.8356, boparc.org

CAMP CATCH YOUR BREATH This program is for children ages 8 to 13 who have asthma—children who are traditionally excluded from the summer camp experience.

The American Lung Association of West Virginia works with United Hospital Center to bring participants to Jackson’s Mill for a weeklong stay that includes supportive discussions about coping with asthma coupled with fun activities like swimming, sports, and crafts. ➼ The camp takes place from July 20 to July 25. 681.342.1622, asthmacamp.uhcwv.org

JUNIOR FIREFIGHTER CAMP WVU FIRE EXTENSION SERVICE

This program provides training in firefighter and emergency skills for kids ages 14 to 17. Through traditional classroom learning combined with hands-on training, participants achieve competence in live fire training, forcible entry, and self-

contained breathing apparatuses, in addition to learning the value of leadership and volunteerism. ➼ The camp takes place at Jackson’s Mill from June 21 to 26.

304.406.7476, fireservice.ext.wvu.edu

KIDZ ROCK SUMMER CAMP SUNCREST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

This 10-week summer program introduces rising first through seventh graders to Christian values. Fun summer activities like swimming, outdoor recreation, field trips, music, and drama will also be part of the camp. ➼ Participants can attend fulltime (five days a week) for $130 per week, or part-time (three days a week) for $80 per week. Discounts apply for a second child’s attendance. Camp takes place from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Suncrest United Methodist Church. 304.599.6306, aimeeharris@comcast.net

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July 3: Origami Fun (Grades 2–6) July 7: Let’s Celebrate Japanese Star Festival (Grades 2–6) July 9: LEGO Racers (Grades 2–4) July 14: American Girl Adventures (Grades 2–6) July 16: LEGO Machine Shop (Grades 2–4) July 21: Brain Games (Grades 3–6) July 24–25: Very Fairy Fun & Games (Grade 2–6) August 4: Holidays with American Girls (Grades 2–6) August 6: A Day at the Beach (Grades 1–5) August 8: Light and Dark and the Colors in Between (Grades 2–6)

Educational Camps

GROWING ROOTS IN STEM

WVU COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND MINERAL RESOURCES

AVIATION SUMMER CAMP

This camp is designed for high school girls who are interested in the science, technology, engineering, or mathematics fields. The camp meets July 6 to 11 and includes either an overnight option ($650) or a day camp option ($350). ➼ statler.wvu.edu/camps.php

This NASA-sponsored camp provides students with a residential learning experience.

The camp focuses on aviation and aerospace activities, including hands-on challenges and field trips. This year, astronaut Captain Jon McBride will share his experiences with the campers. ➼ 304.293.3927, candy.cordwell@mail.wvu.edu

ELEMENTARY ENGINEERING CHALLENGE DAY CAMPS

NASA WEST VIRGINIA SPACE GRANT CONSORTIUM

CURIOSITY QUEST

MORGANTOWN PUBLIC LIBRARY These one- and two-day classes cover a wide range of topics, from origami to fairy-tale themes. Classes are offered June 9 to August 8. ➼ Cost to attend is $15 per child per day. Children must be pre-registered. 304.291.7425, mplcuriosityquest@gmail.com June 9: Frozen Fun (Grades 1–5) June 11: LEGO Club at the Library (Grades 1–3) June 12–13: Robotics: Building & Programming (Grades 5–8) June 16: Fancy Nancy (Grades 1–5) June 18: Monsters Around the World (Grades 1–5) June 30: Magic Carpet Ride (Grades 2–6) 58

Morgantown • APR/MAY 2014

WVU COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND MINERAL RESOURCES These camps are available from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. for kids entering first through third grades, and from 1 to 5 p.m. for kids entering fourth and fifth grades. The camp runs from July 28 to August 1. Cost for camp is $150 for all five days, $120 for four days, $90 for three days, $70 for two days, and $35 for one day. ➼ statler.wvu. edu/camps.php Monday, July 28: Up, Up, and Away Day (aerospace theme) Tuesday, July 29: Beam Me Up Day (civil engineering theme) Wednesday, July 30: reACTION Day (electrical engineering theme) Thursday, July 31: Get Connected Day (electrical engineering theme) Friday, August 1: Move It, Move It Day (mechanical engineering theme)

ENERGY EXPRESS WVU EXTENSION OFFICE

Energy Express is an award-winning, eight-week, summer reading and nutrition program for children living in West Virginia’s rural and low-income communities. Energy Express mentors make learning fun for small groups of school-age children by creating a safe, enriching environment focused on reading, writing, art. and drama. ➼ The program is held June 23 to August 1 at sites across the state. In the North Central area, sites are located in Harrison, Marion, Monongalia, Preston, and Tucker counties. 304.293.3855, energyexpress. ext.wvu.edu

ENGINEERING IN ACTION CO-ED HIGH SCHOOL CAMP

WVU COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND MINERAL RESOURCES This camp is designed for high school students who are interested in learning about the science and engineering behind zip-lining, cycling, and sports equipment design. Campers will also enjoy fun activities like a bowling tournament, a campus-wide scavenger hunt, and ice cream socials every night. The camp meets from July 20 to 25.

Both overnight and day camp options are available. Overnight camp costs $650, while day camp costs $350. ➼ statler.wvu.edu/ camps.php

EXPLORATION CAMP

WVU COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND MINERAL RESOURCES This day camp is designed for middle school students who want to explore two of the universe’s final frontiers: space and the ocean. Campers will learn about how engineering can help to explore these exciting spaces. The camp takes place July 7 to 11 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Cost is $350. ➼ statler.wvu.edu/camps.php

Summer Reading Skills Programs WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY

These programs are designed to help participants develop their reading skills. Programs

are available for a variety of ages. Each program meets at WVU’s downtown campus. ➼ 800.978.9596 Program R: This program is for 4-yearolds and kids entering kindergarten. It meets every Saturday from July 26 to August 23, 8:30 to 9:30 a.m.

Program I: This program is for kids entering first grade. It meets every Saturday from July 26 to August 23, 10:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.

Program II: This program is for kids entering second grade. It meets every Saturday from July 26 to August 23, 1 to 3 p.m.

sUMMER SCIENCE CAMP

SUSTAINABILITY CO-ED HIGH SCHOOL CAMP

This five-day, non-residential camp introduces rising seventh through ninth graders to relevant scientific concepts. Participants explore how the world works through hands-on learning activities, with each day of the camp focusing on a scientific theme.

Topics include the science behind zip lines, fireworks, and lasers. ➼ The camp will take place June 23 to 27 in White Hall from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 304.293.8130, ultra.physics. wvu.edu/outreach

This camp is designed for high schoolers who want to help solve energy problems.

Campers participate in activities like making their own solar-powered pizza ovens, creating windmills, and making their own solar cells. The camp takes place from July 13 to 18. Overnight and day camp options are both available. Cost is $650 for overnight camp and $350 for day camp. ➼ statler.wvu.edu/camps.php

WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY

WVU COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND MINERAL RESOURCES

Program III: This program is for kids entering third grade. It meets every Saturday from July 26 to August 23, 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.

Program IV: This program is for kids entering fourth or fifth grade. It meets every Sunday from July 27 to August 24, 12:45 to 3 p.m.

Traditional Camps

Program V: This program is designed for kids entering sixth, seventh, or eighth grades. It meets every Sunday from July 27 to August 24, 9:30 a.m. to noon.

SCIENCE CAMPS BOPARC

This camp is designed to cultivate curiosity with hands-on learning experiences. Cost is $145. ➼ 304.296.8356, boparc.org.

The camp is split into five sessions: Session I: June 16 to 20, for kids entering fourth through sixth grades Session II: June 23 to 27, for kids entering first through third grades Session III: July 7 to 11, for kids entering first through third grades

ADVENTUREZONE ALL-DAY

recreation, including a ropes course, mountain biking, water skiing, and canoeing. ➼ 412.521.8011, emmakaufmanncamp. com The camp has four sessions:

The traditional camp offers recreational and educational opportunities to kids in the morning, such as arts and crafts and guest speakers, and outdoor activities like swimming and scavenger hunts in the afternoon. ➼ The program is available as a 10-week program (June 9 to August 15) or in sessions: June 9 to 13, June 16 to 20, June 23 to 27, July 7 to 11, July 14 to 18, July 21 to 25, July 28 to August 1, August 4 to 8, and August 11 to 15. Fees are based on total household income.

Session I: June 15 to July 11 Session II: July 13 to August 3 Sabra Aleph/Kineret Aleph: June 15 to June 27 First Experience/Specialty Week: August 4 to August 10

BOPARC

Session IV: July 14 to 18, for kids entering first through third grades

EMMA KAUFMANN CAMP

Session V: July 21 to 25, for kids entering fourth through sixth grades

This camp celebrates Jewish heritage by hosting kids ages 7 through 16 from across the country at its location on Cheat Lake.

Informal education about Jewish values takes place, as well as indoor and outdoor

KINDERCAMP BOPARC

This camp is especially designed for children who have not attended kindergarten yet. The kids get the chance to experience the joys of day camp through a variety of activities, including art, songs, music, dance, nature walks, swimming, and group games. ➼ The camp runs from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. from June 9 to June 13. Cost is $145 per camper.

304.296.8356, boparc.org

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MORGANTOWN LEARNING ACADEMY DAY CAMPS AND WORKSHOPS Morgantown Learning Academy day camps are designed for children ages 5 to 11. There are 10 weeks to choose from, each with a fun theme like time travel, famous artists, or inventions. Camp activities include arts and crafts, an all-new outdoor adventures activity, and Friday pool-time and outdoor play at Krepps Park (from week two onward).

Workshops are also available during the week for kids who may not have the time to attend day camp full-time. Workshop themes include cooking, outdoor living, Legos, and American Girl dolls. These workshops are available throughout the summer with the exception of weeks four, five, and 10. ➼ 304.296.9554, mla@learningacademyorg, learningacademy.org

Week I: June 9 to 13 (Time Travelers) Week II: June 16 to 20 (Famous Artists) Week III: June 23 to 27 (Drum Roll Please) Week IV: June 30 to July 3 (Stars and Stripes) Week V: July 7 to 11 (Inventor’s Workshop) Week VI: July 14 to 18 (The Wright Stuff) Week VII: July 21 to 25 (The Mystery of Atlantis) Week VIII: July 28 to August 1 (Gold Rush) Week IX: August 4 to 8 (Going Green) Week X: August 11 to 15 (Kids’ Choice)

MORGANTOWN LEARNING ACADEMY PRE-K PALS This camp is designed for preschoolers. ➼ Kids meet every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 8:15 a.m. to noon at Morgantown Learning Academy to play, learn, and grow. 304.296.9554, mla@ learningacademy.org, learningacademy.org

STEPPINGSTONES SUMMER CAMP This program provides a fun summer experience for people with disabilities ages 8 to 30. Campers get to sign up for classes that fit their interests, including cooking, science, art, physical education, horsemanship, parks and recreation, water aerobics, computer class, and dance. Campers get to swim in a new pool every afternoon. ➼ Camp runs from June 9 to August 13 on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Camp hours are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with pre- and post-camp available for $2 an hour from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Cost for the 10 weeks of camp is $435. If you need financial assistance, contact the camp as soon as possible. 304.983.7837, abilitywv@hotmail.com, steppingstoneswv.org

June 8 to 12. 304.291.7201, becca.fintclark@mail.wvu.edu

4H Camps MONONGALIA COUNTY 4-H DAY CAMP This program is for kids currently enrolled in kindergarten through third grade. Campers take part in fun activities every day like swimming, outdoors activities, and arts and crafts. ➼ The camp takes place from June 16 to June 20. Third graders can choose between this camp or the Younger 4-H Camp.

304.291.7201, becca.fint-clark@mail.wvu.edu

MONONGALIA COUNTY YOUNGER 4-H CAMP This program is a residential camp for kids 60

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currently enrolled in third through seventh grades. Campers enjoy sports, outdoor activities, classes like outdoor cooking and tie-dye, and nights around the campfire. ➼ The camp takes place from July 7 to 11. Seventh graders can choose between this camp or the Older 4-H Camp. 304.291.7201, becca.fint-clark@mail.wvu.edu

MONONGALIA COUNTY OLDER 4-H CAMP This program is a residential program for students currently enrolled in seventh grade up to age 21. Campers enjoy sports, outdoor activities, classes like outdoor cooking and tie-dye, and nights around the campfire. ➼ The camp takes place from

STATE 4-H ALPHA I AND ALPHA II CAMPS This program is available for 4-H members who are entering sixth grade up to age 21.

In Alpha I and Alpha II, campers engage in activities that develop self-understanding, self-confidence, and leadership skills. ➼ Alpha I is held from July 6 to 11, and Alpha II is held from July 13 to July 18.

Both camps are held at Jackson’s Mill.

304.293.8153, jdorndorff@mail.wvu.edu

STATE 4-H OLDER MEMBERS CONFERENCE This program is available for 4-H members who are entering ninth grade up to age 21.

Campers develop leadership skills by participating in presentations and workshops about relevant issues and problems. ➼ The camp will be held from June 15 to 21 at Jackson’s Mill. A pre-camp, available by invitation only, is on June 14. 304.293.8153, jdorndorff@ mail.wvu.edu

KIDEMATICS DAY CAMP

SWIM LESSONS

This program offers school-age children the opportunity to learn about making healthy lifestyle choices through experiential games and play. ➼ Half-day and full-day options are available. Sessions listed below. 304.906.3612, kidematics.com

Swim lessons are open to a variety of levels for kids from 1 to 11 years old. ➼ Lessons take place at both Krepps and Marilla pools. Lesson fee is $80 per week. 304.296.8356, boparc.org

Session I: June 2 to 6

Morgantown United Aquatic Club Swim Program

Session II: June 9 to 13 Session III: June 16 to 20 Session IV: June 23 to 27 Session V: July 7 to 12 Session VI: July 14 to 18

Sports Camps ALL ACCESS SPORTS CAMP BOPARC

Camps are open to rising first through sixth graders. Camps will help participants develop fundamental skills, sportsmanship, and wellness. All camps include a weekly field trip as well as afternoon swim sessions at Marilla Park. ➼ Camps take place from June 9 to August 15, with each week featuring a different sport or skill. Weekly fee is $125, excluding baseball week, which includes a field trip to a Pirates game and costs $175.

304.296.8356, boparc.org

JUNIOR TENNIS CAMP PROGRAMS RIDGEVIEW RACQUET CLUB These programs are the perfect fit for kids interested in trying tennis. ➼ Programs are available for two age ranges: tots and youth (ages 4 to 7) and youth and teens (ages 8 to 18). 304.599.1959, ridgeviewracquetclub.com

Session VII: July 21 to 25 Session VIII: July 28 to August 1 Session IX: August 4 to 8

MIRACLE LEAGUE BASEBALL STEPPINGSTONES

This program offers three summer baseball leagues for children with disabilities: T-ball, minor league, and major league.

There is one practice and one game each week. ➼ T-ball takes place on Fridays at 6 p.m., minor league takes place on Saturdays at 10 a.m., and major league takes place on Thursdays at 6 p.m.

304.983.7837, abilitywv@hotmail.com, steppingstoneswv.org

NATIONAL YOUTH SPORTS PROGRAM

WVU PHYSICAL EDUCATION

BOPARC

This program is open to kids ages 5 to 18 who have at least basic swimming skills. During the program, kids will be introduced to the four basic competitive strokes while having fun at Krepps Pool. ➼ Tryouts are required for newcomers and will be held on Friday May 30, at Krepps Pool from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The season begins on June 2 and runs through July 19 . Cost is $90 for the first child, with reduced rates for siblings.

Session I: Mondays and Wednesdays from 7:30 to 8:15 a.m., for kids ages 5 to 10.

Session II: Mondays and Wednesdays from 8 to 9 p.m. and on Fridays from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. for ages 11 to 18.

WVU SPORTS CAMPS AND CLINICS WVU SPORTS

WVU Sports hosts a variety of camps and clinics in baseball, football, gymnastics, basketball, soccer, volleyball, and wrestling.

Many of the camps offer high school students a glimpse into the life of college athletics with pro-style workouts and inresidence experiences. ➼ 304.293.2193, wvusports.com/camps.cfm

This free month-long camp is for kids ages 10 to 16. It is held daily in the WVU Shell Building from June 23 to July 18, 8:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. Physical activities like swimming, basketball, soccer, and tennis are coupled with educational enrichment like reading and writing, math and science, and communication skills. ➼ 304.293.0853, nysp.wvu.edu morgantownmag.Com

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Healthy Living

A Happy Place

Through a friend, she heard about the West Virginia Family Grief Center.

Formed a decade ago by that group of social workers, the center is a coalition of sorts, with a simple mission: Give local families—especially the children in those ➼ families—support as they work through grief. The center holds group sessions every Thursday for grieving children In May 2012, Maria Provencher’s and their families, and it has developed a husband, Paul, was diagnosed with amyoprogram through which it sends trained trophic lateral sclerosis, more commonly volunteers into the homes of families known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, a neurodealing with terminal illnesses to help logical condition that affects nerve cells in them cope with the changes they’re seeing the brain and spinal cord. Paul was given a in their loved ones, their families, and terminal diagnosis and soon began to have themselves. All of the center’s programs trouble speaking; eventually he lost cogniare free. “So that’s one less thing the tive function. That, especially, was hard on Maria and Paul’s two teenage sons. “He families have to worry about,” Linda says.

Maria contacted the center while her was very present in their lives,” Maria says.

“And they pretty much lost him immediate- husband was still sick and began welcoming volunteers, including Linda as well ly after diagnosis . . . They felt his loss very as Stephanie Savitch, a grief and loss quickly.” Maria became Paul’s primary counselor, into her home to talk to her caregiver, and the family began to cope with his illness. “That began a very difficult and her sons. At first they visited once a month and checked in by phone weekly; journey for us as a family,” she says. as Paul’s condition worsened they began This is where Maria’s story intersects to visit more often. Maria knew she would with the story of those social workers. seek individual counseling for herself—she still sees a therapist—but she wanted to find a way to provide that same relief to her teenage sons, who both resisted the idea of therapy.

“They’d say they didn’t need it,” Maria says. The grief center was a sort of compromise, because Linda and Stephanie met with the boys on common ground. “What made it possible for them to have that outlet was that they were in their own environment,” Maria says. After the first visit, Maria’s older son reluctantly admitted to her that it had helped. She was surprised to find it helped her, too. “It gave me an opportunity to talk to someone,” she says. “I lost my husband and I didn’t have that partner anymore, the person I was used to going to and saying, ‘How do we deal with all this?’”

The West Virginia Family Grief Center has spent a decade helping children cope with loss.

A

decade ago, in 2004, a handful of Morgantown social workers were talking about their jobs. They all spent a lot of time with people who were chronically or terminally ill, helping them cope with the situation and their prognosis. And they worked with their caretakers, too, often a spouse or close family member. But that group of social workers had all realized the same thing—they had noticed a gap in the care regimen. “They realized that when they would go into the home to help, these adults were getting support, but the children in the home were getting nothing,” says Linda Moore, a board member at the West Virginia Family Grief Center in Morgantown.

left Linda Moore says peer support groups can be very helpful to people who have lost loved ones. Linda is a board member at the West Virginia Family Grief Center, which offers free counseling.

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When Paul passed away in December 2013, Maria and her sons moved on to the grief center’s second program; they started attending weekly meetings. “The beauty of the grief center is that once the death occurs, you transfer into the other side of the program,” Maria says. “You’re not left hung out to dry—there’s actually a transition. You’re learning to cope during and after.”

There aren’t many options for families in this position.

The grief center in Morgantown is modeled after a center in Pittsburgh, The Highmark Caring Place, but both are unique in the country’s health care landscape. A parent can seek individual therapy for his or her grieving child, but there are few options for group sessions with peers, and even fewer are free. The local center is kept free by using volunteers, raising money through fundraisers like auctions and elimination dinners, and asking for grants.

Linda’s quick to clarify that these weekly group sessions don’t quite qualify as therapy—the facilitators are given special training by a professional grief and loss counselor, but they aren’t counselors themselves. Rather than providing therapy, they’re facilitating peer-support sessions. They offer prompts, encourage the participants to share their feelings, read stories about loss to the young children, and encourage the teenagers to journal. The adults talk among themselves about their feelings, about things like the financial strain of suddenly becoming the sole provider and the burden of disciplining children who are grieving in addition to misbehaving. Facilitators are trained in what to say and what not to say, but for the most part they stand back and let the participants lead the conversation.

“The first time we went we were all kind of apprehensive. The boys were saying, ‘Why am I going there? It’s just going to be people crying,’” Maria says. “But it’s not all sad. Yes, there’s crying in the groups, but there’s also laughing.”

Grief doesn’t look the same at every age. Children under the age of 7 look at death as temporary—they’ve been told someone died, but they’ll still ask when that person is coming back. Around the time they turn 8 they begin to understand that death is permanent, and then they grieve the loss again, but differently this time around. The teenage years are where children begin to cope with the idea that their loved one won’t be there to experience their adult lives with them. And parents experience a death differently, too. They grieve the loss, but they also have to care for their families. The grief center’s weekly sessions are designed to account for these differences. After all the participants come together for a meal, they’re separated into age-appropriate groups for the remainder of the session.

The center is open to any family with a child under the age of 18, no matter what type of loss they’re coping with. Many have lost family members, others close friends. Some have died suddenly while other families are dealing with a death at the end of a prolonged illness. Every family’s situation is unique, but their grief is essentially the same. And that, Linda says, is the secret behind peer support groups—the participants see some of themselves in their peers. The families who lost someone only weeks ago look to the families where a death occurred years ago and see that they can endure just as that other family has. “A widow is a widow,” Maria says.

“Somehow as human beings we find solace in that, that we’re not alone in our grief.” Meetings are Thursdays at 6 p.m., at Morgantown Church of Christ on 361 Scott Avenue. written by shay maunz | photographed by elizabeth roth morgantownmag.Com

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ROAD RAGE

m on on g ahe

Cary Gymnastics Center

la vd bl

Cross with Caution

WVU Child Learning Center

WVU Coliseum

Intersection improvements planned for this summer may make travel near the Creative Arts Center a little safer. ➼

Pattes

on

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I

f you’ve ever driven near the Coliseum on a weekday or commuted to a class on the Evansdale campus, you’ve probably played Morgantown’s own live version of chicken. Students in search of free parking at the Coliseum and at Krepps Park dart across five lanes of traffic to get to class. If they’re crossing Monongahela Boulevard, there’s a haven mid-way at the median—but if they’re crossing Patteson Drive, their only break is a hopefully unoccupied left-turn lane.

“Mon Boulevard isn’t that much of a problem,” says senior theater major Nora Perone, who does this every day, sometimes multiple times. “But crossing from Krepps Park is horrific. You end up playing chicken with the traffic.”

It’s no joke—a student was killed there by a hit-and-run driver in fall 2013.

What about the crosswalk at the Mon Boulevard-Patteson Drive intersection?

Commuters say the wait there can be really long—and Nora doesn’t even know how long it is because she’s never walked that far out of her way. “Students aren’t going to follow the rules, so the university may as well adjust,” she says of the distant crosswalk.

This summer WVU is adjusting.

Working with city and state transportation agencies, the university will give students safe crossings at those locations. Even better, other aspects of the university’s multi-year Evansdale Campus Revitalization Project are planned to entice students to park within Evansdale and to leave their cars all day—reducing the numbers of both pedestrians and vehicles on those heavily traveled main roads.

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Core Arboretum

Evansdale drive & the Coliseum at Monongahela Boulevard • Evansdale Drive will be shifted north to align it with upgraded vehicle access at the arboretum end of the Coliseum parking lot.

• A four-way traffic signal will be installed.

• Marked and signalled crosswalk..

KEY

existing campus buildings

new construction

Most visible for drivers will be the change to that somewhat makeshift threeway intersection where the arboretum and the Coliseum lot come together on Mon Boulevard. WVU plans to shift Evansdale Drive, the leg of that three-way “T,” a little north toward the Creative Arts Center (CAC), and to align it with upgraded vehicle access at the arboretum end of the Coliseum parking lot. A new four-way traffic signal will be installed there, along with a marked and signalled crosswalk—right at the place where lots of students now risk their lives to cross.

new traffic patterns

If you’re worried about the effect on Coliseum parking, fewer than 10 spots will be lost, according to WVU Facilities Management Associate Director John Thompson—and they’ll be more than made up for with 120 new spots at the CAC and more elsewhere on Evansdale.

On Patteson Drive, a new threeway signal is going in at the currently unsignalled intersection with Fine Arts Drive, the street that runs along the back side of the CAC. Currently, making that left turn onto Fine Arts Drive can be difficult, and making a left turn from

ROAD RAGE

fine arts drive At PAtteson DRIVE L au rel St ree

t

• A three-way traffic signal will be installed, making left turns easier.

• A marked and signalled pedestrian crosswalk will be installed.

Pattes

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rive

Art Museum

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College of Physical Activities and Sports Sciences

fine

arts

Student Health & Wellness

College of Creative Arts

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ale

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Student Recreation Center

Evansdale Crossing

e

Engineering PRT Station

Petroleum & Natural Engineering Dept.

Advanced Engineering

Engineering Research Building

NRCCE

Division of Resource Management

Agricultural Sciences Building

Evansdale Library

beechurst ave

Greenhouse

Fine Arts Drive onto Patteson isn’t even allowed. A crosswalk and pedestrian signal will be added there, too. The work at these two intersections is funded in part through proceeds from university bond sales, John says, and in part through a grant from the state Department of Highways. Nora thinks students would use these crosswalks—“depending on how late to class they are.”

When the new intersections are complete in August 2014, they will help with traffic flow and student stress. But the Evansdale Campus Revitalization

Project may also actually reduce traffic.

New buildings with bigger classrooms will make it possible for more classes to take place at Evansdale rather than on the downtown campus. Evansdale Crossing, a new student union-type building at the back side of the Engineering PRT stop, will have shops and restaurants, making it easier for students to relax between classes without going off campus. By connecting the PRT station on top of the hill with the buildings below, that facility will also make a better connection for students between the upper and lower

parts of Evansdale. “One of the whole goals is to make the Evansdale campus more pedestrian-friendly, a place where students can come and stay,” John says. Parking will be pushed toward the periphery of campus and improved sidewalks and more bike racks will help students get around within campus— making it more efficient and appealing for them to stay until they’re ready to leave for the day.

written by pam kasey morgantownmag.Com

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The U

A Case for Drones Researchers at WVU have been talking about drones for decades. ➼

T

wo decades ago, when Marcello Napolitano started working with drones, he could actually call them drones. That was before they’d taken flight in the public consciousness, before they called to mind terrorist attacks and privacy violations, were woven so deeply into a structure of legal entanglements and political arguments on a national stage.

But really, the word itself doesn’t mean much—a drone is just an aircraft without a person aboard, a radio-controlled vehicle piloted by someone on the ground.

Drones can be used by the government to mount attacks on suspected terrorists— or by academics for, well, lots of less controversial things. That’s why Marcello

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is still using them—though he’s backed off from the word drone. Now he prefers to call them “unmanned aerial vehicles” to distance himself from big government and billionaires with crazy-sounding ideas.

Marcello uses drones to stand in for actual, manned, full-sized planes in his aeronautics research at WVU, and he has been for 20 years—since he realized how useful they could be. He was looking for a compromise between the mathematical models so often used in aeronautics research but that can’t realistically predict what will happen in flight, and the full-sized planes that require a major investment and can’t, for practical reasons, be used to vet fledgling ideas.

“There’s either the easy and cheap thing or the very expensive and difficult thing,” he says. “My philosophy was, ‘There’s something in between that, for a fraction of the cost and a fraction of the risk, can work.’” And that is the drone.

Marcello and his team build most of their drones from scratch. That’s because they’re built to resemble full-sized aircraft—but they’re also built to fail.

Marcello’s not in the business of making sure planes don’t run into problems.

He’s in the business of ensuring that when something goes wrong, the plane can overcome the problem to make a safe landing. They build their planes, inserting triggers for mechanical failures or other problems, then watch as they fail, gather data, and try to make it go

better next time. There’s other research, too: he’s also used his aircraft to safely test methods for refueling planes in the air and to test fly aircraft in close formations—all things that have real-world consequences much larger than the models used to research them. “People have negative associations with drones—no matter what we do, they’re going to do that anyway,” he says. “But if one day just one plane is safer because of the stuff we do, that’s a huge payoff.”

“I feel like our job is to demonstrate to the world, particularly the research world, that they’re very, very useful,” says Paul Kinder, another WVU researcher.

“They’re going to be a game changer in the way we do our work, and they’re a good thing.” Paul, a scientist at the Natural Resource Analysis Center at WVU, is also working with drones, in another corner of the university. He’s part of a team of researchers who are using drones to map natural resources across West Virginia.

Paul’s drones, two small ones that weigh five pounds each and look like helicopters, are waiting to take off for the first time— they need government approval—but he has a whole slate of projects planned for them when they do. Most immediate is one to map the temperature of Upper Shavers Fork, a stretch of river that runs from Snowshoe to Elkins. Once a thriving fishery, it’s been devastated by the logging industry and pollution, and experts have been working for years to restore it.

Paul’s idea is to equip drones with thermal sensors, then fly them over the river to gather detailed information on water temperature. He has to use drones because he’s looking for more than just the average temperature of the river. He wants to know the exact temperature of the water at every point on the river, and when and how it changes. “We can put temperature probes in the stream, but we just get a snapshot,” he says. “The drones can do this kind of mapping in very high detail.”

courtesy of WVU

left WVU professor Marcello Napolitano (second from right) started the drone program 20 years ago.

The U below WVU engineering graduate students Giovanni De Nunzio and Zachary Merceruio work on an unmanned aerial vehicle as part of Professor Marcello Napolitano’s ongoing research.

I feel like our job is to demonstrate to the world, particularly the research world, that they’re very, very useful.”

Paul Kinder, WVU Natural Resource Analysis Center

install structures that act as sanctuaries for struggling fish, but if they don’t know how water temperature varies across the river, they don’t know where to put them.

“I was fishing one summer and came across one spot where you could see 50 fish all hovering where the groundwater comes up and creates a cool spot,” he says. He wants to recreate that chance

encounter across 15 miles of river—and he can’t do it without drones. “You could walk it all with an army of people with temperature probes and it would take weeks, or maybe use a really expensive manned vehicle—or you could fly a drone,” Paul says. “I’m going to use the drone.” written by shay maunz

courtesy of WVU

Water temperature is important to Paul’s team because water temperature is important to trout—high water temperatures kill them. Often West Virginia’s rivers are stocked with trout that live through the spring months, providing fodder for fishermen and the river’s ecosystem, only to die in the summer heat. The restoration team wants to

morgantownmag.Com

67

Double Play There’s a new coach in town—and he’s not just making a better team.

He’s improving the community. ➼

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C

oach Randy Mazey is only in his second season as head coach of WVU Men’s Baseball, but he’s already making headway into the fickle hearts of WVU sports fans with his commitment to excellence on and off the diamond. Since coming to Morgantown after six years as assistant head coach for Texas Christian University, Mazey has represented the face of a new WVU baseball program, revitalizing a team whose stats have lagged for decades and stirring up a dedicated fan base across the state. Coming into town at the same time the university was unveiling plans for a new multimillion-dollar ball facility didn’t hurt his reputation with locals either.

“These kids were starving for success,” Mazey says. “Starving for a new culture here and that’s what we brought.”

Mazey arrived at WVU with an eye on team confidence and its pitching game, which, if you know baseball, will make or break a season. “Baseball is kind of a unique game in that it’s one of the only games where the defense controls the ball.

A really good pitcher can singlehandedly beat a really good team,” he says. “WVU has a history of having some great offensive teams, and some great pitchers mixed in sporadically, but we’re trying to get a lot of great pitchers on the same team.”

His focus is paying off, with the team landing a spot in the Big 12 championships after only its first year in the conference.

“The energy comes along with winning games,” says Ryan McBroom, a senior first baseman and outfielder. “We know we have the talent. Knowing we have the chance to go out and win three games every weekend, guys come out with a lot

courtesy of WVU sports communications office

scoreboard

scoreboard

courtesy of WVU sports communications office

from far left WVU Baseball landed a spot in the Big 12 in its first year of the conference. The team also helped out after the Oklahoma tornado.

“I bet we haven’t gone on a road trip since I’ve been here where someone hasn’t told me, ‘Coach, that’s one of the nicest groups of young men I’ve ever been around.’ As a coach, that’s what makes you feel good,” says Coach Randy Mazey.

more energy and enthusiasm to go out to the field, especially this year.” He credits that change to Mazey and his staff. “He knows how to run things,” McBroom says.

The 2013 championships were a homerun in many of the players’ lives.

Not only did the team tie for third place in the conference overall—when they’ve usually struck out near the bottom of the Big East in season rankings—but the Moore, Oklahoma, tornado gave them a feel for Mazey’s real goal: community service. WVU made national media attention when the baseball team spent its downtime between the finish of its regular season defeating Oklahoma State and the start of the Big 12 tournament helping with relief efforts following the

tornado devastation. With that focus on service, Mazey also created a different kind of team loyalty that Morgantown hasn’t seen for years.

Morgantown traditionally has been a football town. Following football, our fans gravitate to basketball, and after that we start with football again. Now perhaps Motown will have another sport to look forward to, and another stadium to enjoy summer nights and a beer. WVU baseball games tended to average attendance numbers around 200 to 300 fans, though Hawley Field can hold up to 1,500. In the 2013 season, WVU finally made it on the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association best attendance list at Number 50 with an average of 1,328 fans per game.

McBroom says the baseball program’s focus on community service is something Mazey introduced to the team and is part of the reason game attendance numbers are growing. “He’s a father figure to all of us, so he wants us to act like we were his own sons,” he says. “We’ve picked up a lot of fans in the process.”

Sure, college athletes in general do some community service here and there. They’re mini celebrities, so they kind of have to.

But under Mazey, the WVU baseball team has racked up the most community service hours of all Mountaineer teams. The choice to hire the new coach was a grand slam on WVU’s part, not just to sports fans but to those whom Mazey’s team has helped.

“There are very few people I’ve met in my life who have made such an impact in the community—I see that in Coach Mazey and his entire family,” says Amy Patterson.

Her 11-year-old son, Sean, has a primary immunodeficiency disease, meaning he was essentially born without an immune system.

Every week, Sean goes into a doctor for a two- to three-hour procedure that injects the equivalent of a functioning immune system into his body. “It’s extremely difficult for children who undergo constant medical treatment to feel like they’re a part of anything,” Patterson says. “Coach Mazey and WVU Baseball blew us away with how they took Sean and made him a player.”

Through a program called Team Impact, the Pattersons were put in touch morgantownmag.Com

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with WVU Baseball, where Sean has been made an honorary team April 11, 2014 Oklahoma State* 6 p.m. member. He visits the team as often as possible April 12, 2014 Oklahoma State* 4 p.m. and can usually be April 13, 2014 Oklahoma State* 1 p.m. seen on the sidelines of practices and games April 15, 2014 Ohio State 6 p.m. whenever the team April 22, 2014 Maryland 6 p.m. is nearby. “Sean was welcomed with open April 23, 2014 Marshall 6 p.m. arms,” Patterson says.

April 25, 2014 Kansas State* 6 p.m.

“The players have taken April 26, 2014 Kansas State* 4 p.m.

Sean under their wing, they help him pitch, they April 27, 2014 Kansas State* noon throw the ball around May 2, 2014 Texas* 6 p.m. with him. He feels that these young men are his May 3, 2014 Texas* 4 p.m. older brothers.”

May 4, 2014 Texas* 1 p.m.

Sean is not the only one who has felt a meaningful May 6, 2014 Virginia Tech (Princeton, WV) 6 p.m. impact in the team’s com*Big 12 Conference Game munity efforts. The playAll games played at Hawley Field in Morgantown unless otherwise noted. ers have found pride in themselves. “Sean comes to every practice suited up in WVU Mountaineer gear,” McBroom says.

“He does everything with us. He’s an inspiration to the entire team, with what he has going on in his life.

We’ve really taken pride in going out and doing more for the community, more than before. I think a lot of teams should go out and do the same.”

Mazey and his staff consider the service aspect of their program an integral part of their duty to the team. While players like McBroom may have a major league career ahead of them— says. “The kids love above Coach McBroom was just drafted to play for the Randy Mazey and his it. They’re into the Kansas City Royals after graduating— winter sports, and wife, Amanda, grew more will finish their baseball careers at up on the East Coast we haven’t been at a WVU. “These kids will only play baseball school where we can and say they’re ski and ice skate. happy to be back. for a short period in their lifetimes,” We’re really involved “I’ve really enjoyed Mazey says. “For most of them college in that so we’ve had my time here; my baseball is the end of the road. For the a great experience wife has really here so far.” connected and she lucky ones, they get to play for three or loves it here,” Mazey four more years. Regardless of who you are, your baseball career ends at a really young age. And when that happens you’ve got a lot of living left to do. You’ve got to be a good husband, a good father, a good worker and so while we have them, while they’re in college, we feel like it’s our job

WVU Baseball April/May Home Games

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to prepare them for what life after baseball is like. That’s why we’re here—to get their priorities back in line—getting a college degree, getting out in the community and helping people.”

The team has also visited SteppingStones, a nonprofit recreation center for people with disabilities in Morgantown, and the program says it’s hoping to strengthen its partnership with WVU Baseball. “It’s really good for our athletes to spend time with WVU athletes; they really look up to them,” says SteppingStones director Monica Martin-Marietta. “It seems like the baseball team absolutely is very interested in being involved in the community and I’ll credit that to Coach Mazey.”

Coach Mazey doesn’t just limit his service mentality to his baseball team.

The coach has been known to do his share of personal volunteering from hosting clinics for the parents and coaches of the area’s youth teams to trying his hand at coaching another sport. When he moved to Morgantown, his son immediately took to winter sports and signed up for a youth hockey league.

Between coaching WVU baseball and trying his own hand at hockey in an adult league, Mazey also began helping to coach his son’s team. “That showed me there’s a great hockey community out there in Morgantown and a great need for a new rink in town,” he says. “I’m doing what I can and trying to beat my fist on the desk as much as I can to help get newer facilities here. Hockey, swimming, a newer baseball facility—it’s all about the community progressing forward. If you’re not progressing as a community then other communities are passing you by.”

During the 2014 baseball season we’ll see just how far the WVU Baseball team is progressing. The team started the 2014 season off well. National college baseball expects big things from WVU, which showed in 2013 that it could hold its own with any Big 12 team, and Morgantown expects big things from its players, who show a commitment to more than just winning.

“They won’t remember the scores of the games they played, but they’ll remember the people they helped,” Mazey says. “I want the people of this community to know that if you need help with something, don’t be afraid to call on the Mountaineer Baseball players because we’re here for you. If you’re here to support us, we’re here to support you.” written by katie griffith

courtesy of WVU sports communications office

scoreboard

politics

Exercise Your Privilege

T

uesday, May 13, is primary election day, with early voting from April 30 through May 10 and absentee voting now through May 7. Exercise your right!

These are the candidates for office that represent Morgantown proper, other than party executive committees. These names will appear on separate ballots by party; we present here the entire slates in alphabetical order.

U.S. Senate (1 will ultimately be elected)

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Larry Eugene Butcher

Rep

Wood Co

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Shelley Moore Capito

Rep

Kanawha Co

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Matthew Dodrill

Rep

Wood Co.

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Dennis Melton

Dem

Lewis Co.

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Natalie Tennant

Dem

Kanawha Co

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David B. Wamsley

Dem

Wood Co.

U.S. House of Representatives (1 will ultimately be elected)

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Glen B. Gainer III

Dem

Wood Co.

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David B. McKinley

Rep

Ohio Co

State Senate (1 will ultimately be elected)

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Bob Beach

Dem

Monongalia Co.

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Kris Warner

Rep

Monongalia Co.

State House of Delegates (5 will ultimately be elected)

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Anthony P. “Tony” Barrill

Dem

Morgantown

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Bill Flanigan

Rep

Morgantown

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Barbara Evans Fleischauer

Dem

Morgantown

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Cindy Frich

Rep

Morgantown

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Nancy Jamison

Dem

Maidsville

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Brian Kurcaba

Rep

Morgantown

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Charlene Marshall

Dem

Morgantown

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Amanda Pasdon

Rep

Morgantown



Michael David Safcsak

Dem

Maidsville

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Marti Shamberger

Dem

Morgantown



Roger Shuttlesworth

Rep

Morgantown



Todd Stainbrook

Rep

Morgantown



Joe Statler

Rep

Core



John Williams

Dem

Morgantown

County Commissioner

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L.W. Bill Bartolo

Dem

Eastern District



Ed Hawkins

Rep

Eastern District

Rep

Morgantown

Surveyor



Bob Andriotto

monongalia county board of education (non-partisan)



Rob Core

Western District



Clarence Harvey, Jr

Central District



Mike Kelly

Western District



Barbara Parsons

Central District

Monongalia district conservation district supervisor (non-partisan)



Patricia Andrea Bunne

Morgantown



Mark E. Myers

Morgantown morgantownmag.Com

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out & about in the mountain city

Feb 15 • St John University Parish

2014 Swing & Soul Valentine’s Dance

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WVU Swing Dance club

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On Saturday, February 15, more than 160 guests gathered to enjoy music, food, and dancing at the 2014 Swing & Soul Valentine’s Dance hosted by the WVU Swing Dance Club. The Valentine’s Day-themed dance was held at St. John University Parish’s Sophia Center, a beautiful space decked out with red and white decorations in honor of the holiday.

The evening opened with a dance lesson at 7 p.m., followed by a fun night of all kinds of swing dancing—from the Charleston to the Lindy Hop to the Jitterbug. Guests enjoyed live music from the Soul Miners, a favorite Morgantown band, and browsed at Morgantown’s first vintage bazaar, featuring stylish vintage clothing and accessories from local vendors.

1 Kristie Mueller and Kartik Motwani pose for a photo. 2 Jessi Jones and Brandon Viola are all smiles at the dance. 3 The Soul Miners entertain the crowd.

4 Sabina Balsamo and Dash Kelley share a dance. 5 Quinn Hartleroad and Ali El-Khatib practice their swing dance. 6 Rachel Rabeneck and Adam Messenger are lots of fun. 7 Ashley DeMotto, Spencer Hardesty, and Rebekah James pause for a picture.

8 The dance floor fills up.

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mar 30 • uniontown, Pa

Penn Highlands Hercules Volleyball Team

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Morgantown • APR/MAY 2014

1 Before each game, the team huddles in the middle of the court.

2 Payton Hefner returns a serve.

3 Taylor Reveal is ready at the net.

4 Anna Layton Tretheway stares down an opponent at the net.

5 Madison McDonald strategically tips the ball. 6 Morgan Mullens sets up a play. 7 The girls show off one of many medals. Back row: Club Director Nancy Wheeler, Madison McDonald of Morgantown, Payton Hefner of Morgantown, Morgan Mullens of Morgantown, Anna Layton Tretheway of Morgantown, Taylor Reveal of Morgantown, Coach Stacey Domer. Front row: Abby Stouffer of Connellsville, Madison Wheeler of Uniontown, Abby Bowman of Morgantown. 8 Abby Stouffer is the team’s setter. 9 Abby Bowman passes a ball.

nikki bowman; kim reveal

3

Penn Highlands Volleyball Club is a member of the Ohio Valley Region, Inc., one of the largest of the 40 regional volleyball associations of USA Volleyball.

Geographically, the Ohio Valley Region includes the states of Ohio and West Virginia, and bordering counties (Erie, Crawford, Mercer, Lawrence, Beaver, Washington, Green) of western Pennsylvania.

Penn Highlands is based out of Penn State Fayette, the Eberly Campus in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, and includes travel and league teams with players ranging from 6 to 17 years old.

The Hercules team of 13-yearolds is ranked first in the Ohio Valley Region and will compete in April at the Northeast Qualifiers. pennhighlandsvolleyball.com

out & about in the mountain city

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feb 12• monongalia arts center

Best of Morgantown

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elizabeth roth

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Morgantown residents, local business members, and families and friends of New South Media gathered at the Monongalia Arts Center on Wednesday, February 12, for the third annual Best of Morgantown party. The event celebrates Morgantown’s best businesses—determined via popular vote—with food, beer, wine, music, and, of course, awards. The event was catered by Pizza Al’s, Black Bear Burritos, Atomic Grill, and The Cupcakerie—all Best of Morgantown 2014 winners. Katie Richter from WVAQ was the DJ for the event, and drinks were provided

by Morgantown Brewing Company and Forks of Cheat Winery.

1 Julie Jordan and Kimberly Jordan represent The Shoe Story, winner of Best Place to Buy Shoes. 2 Morgantown Brewing Company, winner of Best Local Brew, offers free pours.

3 Dr. Troy Krupica picks up his award for Best Doctor. 4 Katie Richter takes the award for Best Radio Station on behalf of WVAQ. 5 David R. Merrill is voted Best Local Artist. 6 The photo booth is a hit. 7 Shannon Coombs and Brittany Palumbo accept awards for Park & Madison Boutique and The Paper Doll Boutique. 8 Owner Michel Blankenship celebrates with the girls as Spa Roma is a three-time winner.

9 D.P. Dough is voted Best Late-Night Menu. 10 Nicholas Romanoli and the crew from Nico Spalon celebrate being Best Hair Salon. 11 Lauren Sandberg accepts the award for Morgantown Brewing Company. 12 The Best of Morgantown party is at Monongalia Arts Center. 13 Janet Williams and Anna Carrier of The Cupcakerie take home Best Sweet Indulgence. 14 The Mountain People’s Co-Op wins Best Place to Buy Health Food.

morgantownmag.Com

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Your local guide to life, art, culture, & more APR/maY 14

April all month long Morgantown: 104 Years of Wild Blue Yondering Morgantown History Museum, 175 Kirk Street morgantownhistorymuseum.org This exhibit explores landmarks and innovations in Morgantown’s rich aviation history. On display through September 20, 2014. Free

Bring It On: The Musical WVU Creative Arts Center, Mon., 7:30 p.m.

304.293.7469, events.wvu.edu Inspired by the film Bring It On, this musical about friendship, determination, and forgiveness is sure to be a hit. $28 and up April 10 Darius Rucker Concert WVU Coliseum, Thurs., 7:30 p.m. events.wvu.edu Grammy nominated singer-songwriter Darius Rucker will bring his True Believers Tour to Morgantown’s WVU Coliseum. The tour features the Eli Young Band, with special guest Corey Smith. $28 and up April 11 Honah Lee, Yellowdog Union 123 Pleasant Street, Fri., 9 p.m.

304.292.0800, 123pleasantstreet.com Watch pop punk band Honah Lee take the stage with local punk rock group Yellowdog Union.

Slutwalk Morgantown Monongalia County Courthouse, 243 High Street Fri., 9:30 p.m., facebook.com/slutwalkwv This march against victim blaming will move from the courthouse and up High Street, and end at the WVU Mountainlair, where several keynote speakers will discuss the origins and meanings of Slutwalk, victim blaming, and other issues.

April 12 Coopers Rock Introductory Climbing Class Coopers Rock State Forest, Sat. All day, 304.777.7675 This introductory climbing course focuses on equipment, movement skills, and belaying for the beginner rock climber. $100 per person

wvu sports communications office

April 7

April 11-13 Watch the WVU men’s baseball team take on Oklahoma State at WVU’s Hawley Field. Game times are 6 p.m. on Friday, 4 p.m. on Saturday, and 1 p.m. on Sunday. $5 and up Hawley Field, 3450 Monongahela Boulevard, Fri.–Sun., Times vary, wvugame.com

80s Retro Run 5K Mylan Park, Sat., 9 a.m., 304.983.2383 80sretrorun.com/events/morgantown-wv Contestants are encouraged to dress up like their favorite ’80s icon as they run, walk, or dance their way to the finish line.

Chocolate Lovers’ Day Downtown and Wharf District Sat., 11 a.m.–3 p.m.

Indulge in tasty treats at area businesses while accumulating points toward a grand prize drawing.

Registration begins at 11 a.m. at Monongalia Arts Center at 107 High Street. $5 NEARBY Spring into Action Fair Monroe Street, Fairmont, Sat. 11 a.m.–7 p.m., 304.367.4663 This street fair in downtown Fairmont includes food, business vendors, and plenty of entertainment for a day of spring fun.

WVU Gold-Blue Spring Game Milan Puskar Stadium, Sat., 1 p.m.

800.wvu.game, wvusports.com Missing football? Get ready to cheer for the

Mountaineers at the annual Gold-Blue spring game. $10 Tobacco, Hood Internet, Oscillator Bug 123 Pleasant Street, Sat., 9 p.m.

304.292.0800, 123pleasantstreet.com Enjoy innovative electronic sounds with new music from Tobacco as well as Hood Internet and Oscillator Bug. $12 April 13 Dysfigure, Disillusion Effect, The Kafka Machine, The Adventures of Bear Grylls 123 Pleasant Street, Sun., 6 p.m.

304.292.0800, 123pleasantstreet.com Enjoy metal bands Dysfigure, Disillusion Effect, The Kafka Machine, and The Adventures of Bear Grylls at this all-ages show.

Keb’ Mo’ for Mountain Stage WVU Creative Arts Center, Sun., 7 p.m.

304.293.7469, events.wvu.edu Grammy-winning bluesman Keb’ Mo’ will play Mountain Stage with Dirty Dozen Brass Band from New Orleans. $18 and up morgantownmag.Com

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April 24 The Werks 123 Pleasant Street, Thurs., 9 p.m.

304.292.0800, 123pleasantstreet.com This American rock band is known for its musical improvisation and genre experimentation. $12 April 25

courtesy of WVU arts & Entertainment

MAComedy Standup Showdown Monongalia Arts Center, 107 High Street Fri., 8 p.m., 304.292.3325, monartscenter.com Don’t miss this night of standup comedy. $10

April 22-23 The award-winning musical, We Will Rock You, boasts a fantastic score of Queen songs that you just can’t resist singing along to, such as “Another One Bites the Dust,” “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” “We are the Champions,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and, of course, “We Will Rock You.” $28 and up WVU Creative Arts Center, Tues. & Wed. 7:30 p.m., 304.293.7469, events.wvu.edu

April 13 & 14 10 Minute Play Festival audition M.T. Pockets Theatre, 1390½ University Avenue Sun. & Mon., 304.284.0049, mtpocketstheatre.com Does your 10-minute play have what it takes?

Audition for the 10 Minute Play Festival at M.T. Pockets on Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. or Monday from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

April 16 & 17, 26 & 27 Henry IV WVU Creative Arts Center, Gladys G. Davis Theatre, 304.293.2020, theatre.wvu.edu Don’t miss the theater department’s last show of the season as they tackle this Shakespearean tragedy.

April 17 April Morgantown Poets Monongalia Arts Center, 107 High Street 724.966.8023, morgantownpoets@gmail.com Enjoy an evening of poetry with Maryland-based author Jessica McHugh and Morgantown Poets.

All Mighty Senators 123 Pleasant Street, Sat., 9 p.m.

304.292.0800, 123pleasantstreet.com Don’t miss the All Mighty Senators, a rhythmfused quintet from Baltimore. april 19 & 20 New Works Festival audition M.T. Pockets Theatre, 1390½ University Avenue, Sat. & Sun., 304.284.0049 mtpocketstheatre.com Auditions for the New Works Festival will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. at M.T. Pockets Theatre.

April 21 Wine Tasting The Wine Bar at Vintner Valley, 510 Burroughs Street, Mon., 6–8 p.m., 304.241.1687 vintnervalley.com Enjoy samples of wine, along with artisanal cheeses and charcuterie, at The Wine Bar at Vintner Valley. $25

Monongalia County Child Advocacy Center’s Girls’ Night Out Lakeview Golf Resort & Spa One Lakeview Drive, Fri., 6:30–9:30 p.m.

304.598.0344, moncocac.org Join the Monongalia County Child Advocacy Center for a fun girls’ night out. Gayle Manchin is the honorary chair.

April 25–27 WVU Men’s Baseball Hawley Field, 3450 Monongahela Boulevard Fri.–Sun., wvugame.com Watch as the team takes on Kansas State.

Game times are 6 p.m. on Friday, 4 p.m. on Saturday, and noon on Sunday. $5 and up April 26 CASA Superhero 5K and 1K Kids’ Fun Run East Marion Park, exit 136 off I-79, 8 a.m.

304.366.4198, facebook.com/ casasuperhero5kwv Run or walk the CASA Superhero 5K to support abused and neglected children. Costumes are encouraged.

Walk a Mile in Her Shoes Hazel Ruby McQuain Park 799 E. Brockway Avenue, Sat., 1–3 p.m.

304.292.5100, rdvic99@earthlink.net Put on some high heels and have an effect.

Male participants are encouraged to wear heels to raise awareness about rape, sexual assault, and gender violence. Check-in begins at the WVU Mountainlair. Cost is $10 for early registration and $15 after April 12.

April 27 Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s Swan Lake WVU Creative Arts Center, Sun., 3 p.m.

304.293.7469, events.wvu.edu Enjoy one of Tchaikovsky’s most famous ballets in Morgantown. $20 and up april 29

April 19 Wild Warrior Challenge 5K Mylan Park, Sat., 9 a.m., 304.292.5081 wildwarriorchallenge.com The Wild Warrior Challenge is an exciting 5K mud run complete with an obstacle course. $30 per competitor, $100 per team

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April 25–27 PopShop at Black Bear Burritos Black Bear Burritos Evansdale, 3119 University Avenue, Fri.—Sun., blackbearburritos.com Don’t miss these talented young people as the PopShop class performs live at Black Bear Burritos in Evansdale.

Veterans and Their Families Career Fair Erickson Alumni Center, Tues., 10 a.m.—3 p.m.

Veterans and their family members or military personnel wil have the opportunity to meet with employers to discuss employment opportunities and possibly participate in on-site interviews.

May May 2 Electro Dash Mylan Park, 500 Mylan Park Lane, Fri., 8:30 p.m.

304.983.2383, electrodash5k.com Get your run on with this fun 5K, complete with neon lights, dance music, and glow bracelets. $35 and up May 2–4

May 3 Morgantown Migratory Bird Day Coopers Rock State Forest, Sat. 7 a.m.–2 p.m. 304.906.5438 coopersrockstateforest.com Begin with a guided bird walk along the Raven Rock Trail. Afterward, enjoy coffee, live raptor presentations, crafts, and more. Free Dollhouse Miniatures Show and Sale Riverside Apostolic Church Fellowship Hall 336 North Dents Run Road, Sat. 9 a.m.–3 p.m., 304.291.8396 Join the Mountaineer Miniatures Club to benefit Make-A-Wish Foundation. The show features vendors, a children’s area, club exhibits, and dollhouse raffle. $1 for adults, free for children Yoga in the Garden West Virginia Botanic Garden 1061 Tyrone Road Sat., 9:30–10:30 a.m.

304.376.2717, wvbg.org Enjoy yoga in the great outdoors. Sessions also available on June 7, July 5, and August 9. $12 for members, $14 for non-members Morgantown Entrepreneurship Cafe Morgantown Market Place, 1111 Van Voorhis Road, Sat., noon, visionshared.com Pitch business plans to a group of interested people. The best plan wins a $500 award to help jumpstart the business.

Fletcher’s Grove 123 Pleasant Street, Sat., 9 p.m.

304.292.0800, 123pleasantstreet.com Get down with one of Morgantown’s favorite local bands, Fletcher’s Grove.

May 10 Successful Container Gardening Workshop West Virginia Botanic Garden 1061 Tyrone Road Sat., 10–11:30 a.m.

304.376.2717, wvbg.org Create a beautiful container garden with Master Gardener Jan Mitchell. Plants and soil are provided, but bring your own container. $25 for gardening members, $30 for non-members

elizabeth roth

WVU Men’s Baseball Hawley Field, 3450 Monongahela Boulevard Fri.–Sun., wvugame.com WVU takes on the Texas Longhorns. Game times are 6 p.m. on Friday, 4 p.m. on Saturday, and 1 p.m. on Sunday. $5 and up

May 31 Enjoy a show by the fun-loving Morgantown band

Soul Miners at Heston Farm on May 31. $10

Heston Farm, 1602 Tulip Lane, Fairmont, Sat., 8–11 p.m., 304.366.9463, hestonfarm.com

May 17–18 Cirque Dreams Rocks WVU Creative Arts Center, One Fine Arts Drive Sat. & Sun., 304.293.7469, events.wvu.edu This show features daring aerialists, balancers, and strongmen, all accompanied by a hip-hop dance crew, singers, and a band. $28 and up May 20 Ed Talks West Virginia with Gordon Gee Morgantown Event Center 2 Waterfront Place, Tues., noon to 1:30 p.m educationalliance.org/edtalks Join business, community, education, and legislative leaders for an innovative discussion on public education. Registration costs $45 for adults and $20 for students.

May 21–24 NEARBY West Virginia Three Rivers Festival Palatine Park, Fairmont, Wed.–Sat. 304.366.5084, wvthreeriversfestival.org Enjoy music, a carnival, parade, food, and fireworks. The fair is open 6 to 9 p.m.

Wednesday, 5 to 10 p.m. Thursday, 5 to 11 p.m.

Friday, and 8:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday.

May 30 & 31 INTEGRATE 2014 Conference WVU Downtown Campus, Life Sciences Building, Fri. & Sat., All day, 304.293.6783 imc.wvu.edu/integrate WVU’s online integrated marketing

communications program hosts INTEGRATE, a conference designed for communications professionals. This year’s keynote speaker is Elliott Nix. $150 for conference, $200 for conference and dinner.

Upcoming June 1–2 304 Custom Car Show Mylan Park, 500 Mylan Park Lane, Sun.–Mon. Opens 12 a.m., bsimpson@paceenterprises.org Proceeds from this custom car show will go to “Operation Welcome Home,” for veterans. june 5 Disney’s Beauty and the Beast WVU Creative Arts Center, One Fine Arts Drive Thurs., 7:30 p.m., 304.293.7469, events.wvu.edu Don’t miss this classic Disney musical. $33 and up june 11 6th Annual Taste of Morgantown Erickson Alumni Center, 1 Alumni Drive, Wed. 5:30—8:30 p.m., redcross.org/wv/morgantown Join the American Red Cross for an evening showcasing Morgantown’s finest restaurants, food vendors, breweries, and wine distributors. $40 for individuals, $75 for couples

morgantownmag.Com

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Then & Now

Brian Turner

Margaret Lopez today

A Morgantown postman tells us 10 things he knows about delivering mail in West Virginia’s fastest growing city. ➼

For more photos

of Morgantown’s past, check out wvhistoryonview.org

Margaret Lopez

Hurricanes, blizzards, ice storms, and floods—no matter the weather, postal workers like Brian Turner walk the streets weighed down with messages no matter where she goes in morgantown, Margaret Lopez from all over the world. The sees her students.

They greet her—sometimes in Italian—when she Preston County native has been has breakfast with friends at Panera. delivering mail in Morgantown They send letters and photos to her South home.

Years after meeting Margaret as a typing for nearly 20Park years.

Before taking instructor, Italian teacher, or advisor, they reach out to her with his job with the postal service, stories of success and gratitude.

Brian served in the military Margaret retiredmaking from WVU in 2011, she had worked andWhen worked in a factory there for 59 years and was its longest-serving employee. Her first furnace filters. jobOver at thethe university was seen as a secretary in the registrar’s office, where years, he’s it she would meet her husband Russell Lopez, a WVU football player. all, from angry dogs jumping After marrying and raising three children, Margaret started taking through windows to misplaced classes at the age of 42, got her undergraduate degree in accounting mail trucks. and went on to receive a master’s in English. She then worked as an advisor in the College of Human Resources & Education for more than 40 years. Margaret was also an instructor at the Monongalia County Technical Education Center, where she taught more than 16,000 students how to type.

With such a long history of involvement in the Morgantown

Margaret’s Morgantown has changed drastically over the many years she’s called it home, but one thing will never change—the effect she’s had on the community. community, it should come as no surprise that just about everyone has a story about Margaret. The best stories, though, are the ones Margaret tells herself. She still remembers the exact day— November 23, 1929—she landed on Ellis Island with her sister and mother after a long journey from Calabria, Italy. She remembers translating letters for other Italian immigrants because, unlike Margaret, most had never learned to read or write. She remembers hiding books from her mother, who thought Margaret would “ruin her eyes.” She even remembers her friend Don Knotts performing his ventriloquist act at Morgantown High School’s weekly talent show when they were both students there.

At 91, Margaret is as sharp as ever. She still delights friends with her stories of the past and continues to teach Italian. Despite losing two of her children to cancer, she says, “God was really good to me.” Maybe it’s because Margaret has been so good to Morgantown.

Then & Now is in partnership with WVU Libraries’ West Virginia & Regional History Center. wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu.

written and photographed by elizabeth roth 80

Morgantown • APR/MAY 2014