Morgantown Magazine - April/May 2016 by Morgantown Magazine

LEVIES TO LOVE Quality-of-life issues will be tackled on May’s ballot.

TOP ’TENDER

SUNNYSIDE UP

Morgantown is finally catching up on student housing. What does that mean for you?

Meet Jessica Hammack, winner of our first Top ’Tender bartending contest.

D BORHOO H G I E N Y

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PUBLISHED BY

New South Media, Inc.

709 Beechurst Avenue, Suite 14A, Morgantown, WV 26505

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Nikki Bowman, nikki@newsouthmediainc.com EDITOR

Katie Griffith, katie@newsouthmediainc.com ASSOCIATE EDITORS

Zack Harold, zack@newsouthmediainc.com Pam Kasey, pam@newsouthmediainc.com DESIGNER

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Sarah Shaffer, sarah@newsouthmediainc.com WEB & SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER

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Jennifer Skinner ADVERTISING & MARKETING MANAGER

Bekah Call, bekah@newsouthmediainc.com CONTRIBUTORS

Mikenna Pierotti, Elizabeth Roth

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MORGA NTOW N is published by New South Media, Inc. Copyright: New South Media, Inc. Reproduction in part or whole is strictly prohibited without the express written permission of the publisher. © N EW SOU T H M EDI A, I NC. A LL R IGH TS R ESERV ED

MORGANTOWN • APR/MAY 2016

MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

EDITOR’S NOTE

inding them, buying them, renting them, designing them, parking in front of them—this issue of Morgantown magazine is all about homes. Morgantown is changing fast; everyone sees it. But central to that change is the city’s struggle to make room for university growth while maintaining family and professional neighborhoods. Thanks to the dedication of organizations like Sunnyside Up and the FairmontMorgantown Housing Authority, decades of behind-the-scenes work to revamp city codes and zoning laws are finally coming to fruition. Of course you’ve noticed the high-rises sprouting up close to campus. Writer Pam Kasey takes a look at how these developments are positioning us for a return to what everyone wants: family-oriented neighborhoods where residents have buy-in. Check out her story “Sunnyside Up” (page 64) for an in-depth look at how Morgantown is catching up with student housing demand. While some may decry these new high-rises, claiming they ruin the local character of the neighborhoods they grace, we’d argue there wasn’t much character left to ruin.

We look forward to the future of Sunnyside when development finishes. Here’s hoping the costs of renting these new apartments keep the developments attractive and affordable to students. As students turn away from aging converted duplexes in favor of urban lifestyle and new buildings, city officials and residents alike are hopeful Morgantown’s housing stock for single families and professionals will open up. There’s something here for everyone, whether you’re a recent graduate looking to settle down in the area with your first job or you’re a townie with strong opinions of ideal locations. So which of Morgantown’s neighborhoods are the best? Well, that depends. For a guide to our triedand-true neighborhoods and our up-and-comers, check out page 40. Once you’ve found that perfect place to call home, you don’t need to drive 90 miles up Interstate 79 to find design options to make it your own. Morgantown’s vintage boutiques and our long-established designers and furniture retailers offer plenty of expertise on great design no matter your budget. Flip to page 51 for a sampling of what your local businesses have to offer. Spring is here and we have nesting on our minds. Welcome, Morgantown, to your annual homes and neighborhoods issue.

Editor

We highlight tasty creations from local restaurants in every issue. Why not show Morgantown magazine your favorite dishes and drinks around town? Share your favorite foodie photos by tagging #DishItOutMorgantown and @morgantownmag on Instagram. The most delectable photos could be featured on morgantownmag.com and our social channels.

MORGANTOWN • APR/MAY 2016

Mikenna Pierotti Mikenna Pierotti moved to West Virginia in 2010 from upstate New York to complete her master’s degree in English, live in the mountains, and write. She loves digging around in the history, landscape, and culture of West Virginia, looking for those shiny gems that become great stories. She lives in Morgantown with her husband, Adam, her wiener dog, Tally, and far, far too many houseplants.

Elizabeth Roth Elizabeth Roth grew up fishing, writing, biking, drawing, swimming, and making music in beautiful Lewisburg, West Virginia. She completed her degree in visual art at West Virginia University in May 2013 and has been living in Morgantown ever since. She currently works as a multimedia specialist at WVU and recently added yoga and pottery to her ever-growing list of hobbies.

Letters to the Editor Greenmont glory Thanks so much for sending copies of Morgantown. You did an excellent job of highlighting Kern’s Fort, and I appreciated that you shared your efforts. It may seem coincidental, but it was a nice boost for the Greenmont community to feature Matt’s Green Arch Market and the fort concurrently. I am quite impressed by the magazine. Copy is informative and well edited. Your layout is attractive and imaginative. The town obviously benefits from your enterprise. former resident Fred Brooks, via mail

K ATIE GR IFFITH,

#DishItOutMorgantown

Featured Contributors

A holler for Hill & Hollow I’m about as far away as can be to this amazing restaurant and couldn’t be more bummed about it. I’m DYING to eat everything on the menu. Congratulations!! Marci Elizondo, via website Love from a graduate As a 1990 graduate of WVU’s Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism, I’m thrilled to see (WVU’s Media Innovation Center) up and running. What a boon for modern student reporters, producers, and broadcasters! Rick Cross, via website

MORGANTOWN • APR/MAY 2016

APRIL/MAY 2016

CARLA WITT FORD

In This Issue

Neighborhood Guide

A Home Design Refresh

Sunnyside Up

Take a look through our not-quite-official but still incredibly complete guide to Morgantownâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s many neighborhoods.

When spring has you itching to revamp your home, Morgantownâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s businesses and designers have the know-how to help you out.

Morgantown is finally catching up on student housing stock. What does this mean for you?

MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

APRIL/MAY 2016

In This Issue This Matters

Departments

14 Who’s This Meet Morgantown’s first Top ’Tender: Jessica Hammack of Table 9.

6 Editor’s Note 33 Road Rage What’s up with blue curb parking in Morgantown’s neighborhoods?

16 This Matters To Logan Smith, owner of Green Girl Cleaning, talks spring cleaning with a green twist.

36 The U WVU’s high-altitude balloon class lets student engineers gather data high in the atmosphere.

17 Love This Local refurb gurus Liza Heiskell and Emily Kurth introduce their upcycle décor business. 18 Eat This Summer is just around the corner. Make sure you know where to grab Morgantown’s best hot dogs. 20 Shop This Wells Home Furnishings brings individualized interior design services to Westover.

76 Calendar Don’t miss these great events.

80 Then & Now What did near-campus housing look like in the 1960s?

2 Hear This 2 The melodies of longtime harmonizers The Flying Colors bring joy to events across town.

24 Know This Local surfacing company Preferred Surfaces gives clients the custom treatment. 26 Consider This What does it take to live alone in Monongalia County? A wage of at least $12.19 an hour, for one thing.

27 Support This Morgantown High School’s marching band is raising $1 million for a trip to remember. 27 See This A new exhibit at the Art Museum of WVU shows off Appalachian talent. 28 Watch This Are you informed enough to vote on the quality-of-life issues in May’s ballot?

20 10

MORGANTOWN • APR/MAY 2016

EAT / LOVE / WEAR / SHOP / WATCH / KNOW / HEAR / READ / DO / WHO / WHAT

➼ West Virginia’s Brood V cicadas return with a vengeance this spring—early estimates say May. MAY 2016

Not sure what we’re talking about? Just ask someone who was here back in 1999. Or allow yourself to be surprised by the biblical-level pestilence. On the plus side, we hear cicadas make a tasty source of protein. People even make pizzas out of them. Just check out this cicada cookbook published by the University of Maryland; Cicada-licious, it’s called: bit.ly/1R6JF4w. If you try any recipes, be sure to write in and tell us how it went. Pictures required, or it’s not real.

WIKIMEDIA, RICHARD HERTWIG

Summer Produce Arrives! Fresh food returns to Spruce Street in May with the reopening of the Morgantown Farmers Market’s summer hours. Get ready to bite into juicy summer produce all season long!

1,000+ That’s the number of feet in elevation runners racing the Coopers Rock State Forest 50K will climb on Saturday, April 16. Check out our calendar on page 76 for more information.

Ever thought about keeping bees? Check out a monthly meeting of the Monongalia County Beekeepers Association. Meetings are held on the first Tuesday of every month at 7 p.m. More information at moncobkr.com.

MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

THIS MATTERS

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2016

THIS MATTERS WHO’STHIS

Morgantown’s First Top ’Tender

This Table 9 star takes the craft of bartending—and cocktails— to a new level. ➼ JESSICA HAMMACK , winner of Morgantown magazine’s first Top ’Tender contest, didn’t exactly plan to become a bartender. “Actually, I have an MFA in poetry,” she laughs. “This is my first bartending job.” In a dress, cardigan, smart pair of glasses, and a smile for anyone, Jessica looks like she’s just as much at home cracking a dusty volume in the library as she is popping open a bottle of Prosecco behind the bar at Table 9. And she doesn’t seem to mind if she becomes well known for one, the other, or both. A townie by birth, Jessica grew up in Morgantown but left more than a decade ago for college. When she came back, she found herself drawn to the creative freedom and flexibility of Morgantown’s evolving culinary scene. Passionate about great food and always ready to experiment with something new, Jessica dove into bartending with little reservation. Table 9’s general manager, Kate Lewis, says that’s what makes Jessica stand out. “She’s creative, always picking out new liquors and recipes to incorporate into new cocktails. A great cocktail artist is someone who isn’t afraid to think outside the box and try new things.” Jessica still writes in her free time, and she says there are some striking similarities between crafting an intoxicating verse and pouring a balanced cocktail. “It’s intuitive. It’s creative. I get to talk to a lot of people, then I can go home and still have time to read or write by myself.” At the 2016 Best of Morgantown party in February, the Top ’Tender contest challenged a handful of Morgantown’s bartenders to make whiskey drinks in front of a panel of three judges: Chef Marion Ohlinger from the newly opened Hill and Hollow, Chef Chris McDonald from Stefano’s, and Kevin Connoley, radio host at WVAQ. After the bartenders concocted and presented their drinks, the judges had some time to taste them and rate the bartenders on a variety of factors,

including originality, taste, presentation, and composition. While the competition was close, Jessica came out on top with a mixture of Bulleit Rye Whiskey steeped in a Chinese tea called Lapsang Souchong, Benedictine liqueur, fresh orange juice, and homemade simple syrup with Turbinado sugar and Chinese fivespice. The result? “Something earthy, herbal, and smoky,” Jessica says. Ask Jessica how she managed to concoct such a knockout whiskey drink for her contest entry, and she’ll try to tell you she doesn’t really know. “I just like to eat and drink. I put a little something in and try it. I think I’ve always been drawn to the intuitive arts in that way. I don’t really have a method.” This Top ’Tender’s cocktail style ranges from the more complex—like the popular By Any Other Name, a floral mix of dry gin, fresh grapefruit juice, and simple syrup served in a coupe spritzed with rose water and topped with Prosecco—to the classic Old Fashioned. She’s also a fan of simplicity. “When I come home, I’m more likely to pour myself something easy like a scotch, neat, or a bourbon on the rocks.” Despite her arguably inborn talent for mixing, she says cocktails aren’t the only things that fuel her enthusiasm. “I like making cocktails in the same way I like cooking. I like to try new things. For me, this job is more about getting to talk to people.” Take a seat at the bar and pick her brain about food, drink, or literature, or just listen in when she strikes up conversation with another patron—some regulars, others visitors from around the world staying at the Waterfront Place Hotel next door. She has a knack for prying a good topic out of anyone. “I just love it when someone comes in by themselves with something interesting like a book. I call it their just-in-case book— just in case they have no one to talk to. That always gets my attention, and I have to come over and ask about it.” And that’s another thing she’s picked

up from bartending: Table 9 an insatiable curiosity 40 Donley Street about her new/old 304.554.2050 home and all the dinetable9.com people who live in it or pass through every day. “I’ve learned so much more in the last two years about this city just by talking to people than I knew in the 18 years before.” written by MIKENNA PIEROTTI photographed by ELIZABETH ROTH

MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

THIS MATTERS THISMATTERS TO

Logan Smith ➼ ARTIST, MOTHER, BUSINESS OWNER, ECOPRENEUR — Logan Smith wears a lot of hats. Owner of Green Girl Cleaning in Morgantown, Logan opened her business in 2013 after gradating with an art degree. “While I was in college at WVU, I cleaned houses on my own here and there. I never imagined I would turn that into a career, but then I graduated in 2012 and struggled to find a job that had anything to do with art,” She says. “I was still cleaning houses, so I thought, ‘If I can’t find a job, I’ll make one.’”

On defining green A green product is not going to harm you upon contact, and it’s certainly okay to breathe around it. All the ingredients should be listed on the label and should be derived from plants or minerals. Most people use ammonia-based or similar products on windows and mirrors, which can be harmful to breathe in—especially when used around a bleach product, which often happens when cleaning a bathroom.

On customer favorites We use some Mrs. Meyer’s products, specifically the all-purpose solution in lavender scent. We use Zum products, which are from the company Indigo Wild. They’re organic, scented with frankincense and myrrh, and have become a client favorite.

Today Logan is at the forefront of green cleaning services in Morgantown, with testimonials rolling in from happy clients. Her services range from move-in and moveout cleaning for apartment complexes to deep-cleaning large homes. Although her business is small—she employs just a handful of people—she says offering clients personalized and attentive service and providing good wages for her employees are more important. “Caring for someone’s home and possessions is a very intimate business,” she says. For Logan, green cleaning isn’t so much a political or philosophical statement as common sense. interview by MIKENNA PIEROTTI photographed by CARLA WITT FORD

On growing up organic My parents’ farm was, and still is, 100 percent organic. Their cattle and chickens are all grass-fed and they don’t use any pesticides, so I grew up in a world where chemicals were essentially banned and it was just a way of life. I didn’t even think twice when choosing to make the business green.

On green alternatives Our alternative to ammonia-based products like Windex is a simple solution of water and vinegar for mirrors and glass. If you can’t stand the smell of the vinegar, you can use a drop or two of essential oil without compromising the cleaning power. Vinegar is also a natural alternative to bleach. It kills just as many germs and it can prevent mold. If you have a problem with your shower curtain mildewing, you can spray vinegar on it after showering to prevent mold growth.

Green Girl Cleaning 304.991.1806 greengirlcleaningllc.com

MORGANTOWN • APR/MAY 2016

THIS MATTERS

LOVETHIS

Refurbished, Reused, Recycled

COURTESY OF COCO AND JUNE; CARLA WITT FORD

Coco and June transforms old pieces into new creations. ➼ LIZA HEISKELL AND EMILY KURTH always enjoyed personal DIY projects at home and on weekends, but it wasn’t until three years ago the two realized they could make a business out of their hobbies. Emily, a Morgantown native, and Liza, who hails from Delaware, met as students at WVU. After graduating with a degree in education, Emily started a family and began working on creative furniture projects, while Liza graduated and moved to New York City to start the video production company Park Street Productions. “I ended up back in Morgantown after my first son was born, and Emily and I started talking about how much we love furniture,” Liza says. “We were both doing DIY projects and thought maybe we could do something with this, something that was fun.” So in 2013, Coco and June was born with the goal of turning solid but old pieces of furniture in need of love and creativity into beautiful, unique pieces that customers can display in their homes. “It’s the ultimate in

recycling,” Liza says. “You’re taking pieces that might end up in a landfill and bringing them back to life.” When customers take old furniture to Coco and June for rehab, Emily and Liza begin each project with research. They look for identifying features or tags on the pieces, find out as much as they can about the companies of origin, and tie those original identities into their designs. “It’s fun to look up the history of a piece of furniture. Some companies are still in business and have been for over a century, some have closed, and some have very interesting stories, like one company I read about that burned in a fire,” Emily says. Morgantown mothers in particular bring in furniture from their own childhoods to have the pieces refurbished to fit their children’s bedrooms. “The piece has been sitting in a house for 20 years unused and now it has a new life,” Emily says. “It’s making someone love something again that stayed in the family.” Coco and June doesn’t just rehab

furniture, however. The duo has branched out to create décor items as well. “I’ll find something I like, I’ll paint it, and I’ll hope someone will buy it,” Liza says. Emily makes the wooden West Virginia pride signs that became popular around town during the 2015 holiday season. Though Coco and June sells most of its products online and out of Liza’s and Emily’s homes, some can be found on display at The Elegant Alley Cat and The Beauty Bar. “I would love to have a little shop one day, but we’re A-OK where we are right now,” Emily says. “We’re lucky and happy with what we have.” cocoandjune.com written by JENNIFER SKINNER MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

THIS MATTERS EATTHIS

Well, Hot Dog! Town Hill Tavern and Grille (998 North Willey Street, 304.284.8104) might have started out as a gas station and a grocery store in the 1930s, but today the bar is known for its hot dogs. Choose from a variety of satisfying franks, like the Mountaineer Dog with chili and slaw or the Fire Dog with spicy ranch sauce and chili. Get the Morgantown Martini—a pickle in a pint of beer—and listen to old town gossip as told by returning customers. Cash only. Tucked away at the border between Westover and Granville, Hometown Hot Dogs (551 Dunkard Avenue, 304.291.5038) has been serving up hot dogs, chili, and baked potatoes since 1987. The West Virginia chain has since opened locations in nearby Fairmont and Grafton, too, but Morgantownarea residents have seen their kids and grandkids grow up eating frankfurters at the original store in Westover. Enjoy your dog and seasoned fries at a picnic table outside or sit at the counter by the kitchen. Cash only. Haught Diggity Dogz (10 Commerce Drive, 304.291.3649) moved into its new location in Westover in August 2015 and has since built up a fan base. Boasting some of the best chili in northern West Virginia, Haught Diggity Dogz offers a variety of hotdog toppings as well as burgers, nachos, pepperoni rolls, and rito pies. Cool off with a cup of frozen yogurt and fruit toppings after eating your chilidog with coleslaw. That small blue hut that you pass every day in Star City actually holds more than 30 years of local dog history. Star City Hotdogs (3417 University Avenue, 304.599.5199) barely fits a handful of people, but it serves up a mean wiener for customers young and old. Relish your dogs with ketchup, mustard, and onions at the bar, take a chili dog into the cozy sitting room, or take them outside to enjoy the warm weather comfort food. Gene’s Beer Garden (461 Wilson Avenue, 304.292.1147) is the oldest bar in Morgantown, so it only makes sense that it’s a local haven for good food and even better conversation. Founded in 1944, Gene’s takes pride in its sausages, which are usually served with slaw or chili. Choose from a wide selection of craft beer to go with your hot dog, and enjoy the company of regulars while watching the Mountaineers play on TV. written and photographed by jennifer skinner 18

MORGANTOWN • APR/MAY 2016

MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

SHOPTHIS

Finishing Touch Wells Home Furnishings is bringing high-tech interior design and down-home customer service to the Morgantown area.

MORGANTOWN • APR/MAY 2016

➼ IT WAS 1994. The World Wide Web had finally become a thing, email was starting to surpass snail mail, satellite TV services were just taking off, and workers completed a 31-mile tunnel—with the longest undersea portion in the world—connecting England and France. It was a year for big, brave innovations, but not just for the largest players. That same year, John Wells, III, and his father, John Wells, Jr., cut the ribbon on a 12,000-squarefoot custom furniture store they named Wells Home Furnishings in Charleston. The father-son duo offered high-quality, fashion-forward furniture—everything from bedroom sets to dining tables to accessories—most made in America and Amish-made as well. All of these options came with the added bonus of guaranteed pricing against any competitor in the United States and free local delivery. “We just felt there was a need for a different type of furniture store in the area,” says owner John Wells. To further differentiate his company, John took a chance on a new technology, too—one that allowed him to show customers how furniture looked with different fabrics. Wells, he says, became one of the first companies to adopt the new technology. More than two decades later, Wells is still at the forefront. That 12,000-square-foot space in

COURTESY OF WELLS HOME FURNISHINGS

THIS MATTERS

We take the time to find what’s best for the client. When customers come here, they can feel they’re making a smart investment for their homes and families.” CAITLIN FURBEE

Charleston has expanded to 40,000. The store now offers 1040 Fairmont Road more than 100 304.322.2129 wellshome.com/ brands and in-depth, Morgantown in-home design services coupled with a new 3D design program that allows customers to tour their newly planned spaces in the virtual world—complete with custom furniture, paint, window treatments, rugs, and even accessories. And with the opening of a new store in Westover in April 2015, Wells is bringing its highly customized products and services to an ever-larger market. Take Exit 152 off Interstate 79 in Westover and you’ll find the new store conveniently tucked right off the main road. It’s smaller than its Charleston counterpart, but don’t be fooled. “We’re only 8,000 square feet, but we hardly sell anything off the floor,” says store manager Jason Wells of the meticulously styled space. His show floor is immaculate. Polished Wells Home Furnishings

wood floors gleam. Walls in an assortment of colors cordon off fashionably arranged living rooms, dining spaces, and bedrooms with furniture and accessories in rich hues, bold patterns, and elegant textures. “We have hundreds and hundreds of fabric options and custom furniture styles where you can change the arms, the legs, and the finish, or get a custom size. In terms of style, we go from traditional to transitional. It runs the gamut.” Jason is the son of John Wells and the third generation to be part of the family furniture business. “This is a new idea for Morgantown, but we tell everyone the outsides of our two stores are different, but they offer the same services, the same focus on customer care, and the same vendors.” Wells has been successful in the Charleston area and, increasingly, in Morgantown, not only because of its focus on customer service—both John and Jason take the time to call customers after every delivery, send thank you cards, and solicit feedback—but because they’ve never been

afraid to adapt. “The furniture industry is now a fashion industry. When you had a fabric 30 years ago, it would be in the line for four years or more. Now, if you have a fabric that lasts a year, that’s impressive,” John says. “Customers are often afraid to make a big buying decision because of that.” With the company’s in-home design services, Jason says, busy customers don’t have to grapple with those choices. “Instead of a customer going store to store and trying to piece together a look, they’re working from an overall plan created by a designer for their space,” he says. “It keeps them from making costly mistakes. And they can still do it in phases. They have no obligation to buy the pieces we come up with.” Caitlin Furbee, an interior designer and associate at Wells in Westover, says that’s one reason she was drawn to her current position. “We take the time to find what’s best for the client,” she says. “When customers come here, they can feel they’re making a smart investment for their homes and families.” For customers in an increasingly fast-paced world, the level of one-on-one attention and flexibility is crucial, especially when it comes to shaping the very spaces where we live, work, and play. “We’re helping others create spaces in their homes for their families to enjoy for years to come,” John says. “That’s why I love this industry.” written by MIKENNA PIEROTTI photographed by CARLA WITT FORD MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

HEARTHIS

Spiritual Experience

Longtime harmonizers The Flying Colors bring joy to any event. ➼ LUTHER BOYD WAS ONLY 11 when he left his Alabama home alone, just three decades after the Civil War, but he was already steeped in the musical traditions of the Deep South. He rode the rails through Tennessee and made his way eventually to Scotts Run, across the Monongahela River from Morgantown, long before there was a Star City Bridge. He was a coal miner there and, during the years between the wars, he and Lucy Bostic Boyd raised a family of natural musicians. “He liked to whistle,” says Sara Boyd Little, fourth of seven Boyd children, now in her 90s. “His favorite song was, ‘When my Dreamboat Comes Home,’ and we’d hear that and know he was coming home from the mines.” It was a musical 22

MORGANTOWN • APR/MAY 2016

greeting for a musical family. “Singing was our pastime when we were growing up,” Sara says. “Mom and Dad sang. We’d learn some crazy song at school and we’d come home and before you knew it Mom and Dad put the harmony to it. He had a real deep, rich, heavy voice and she was a soft, high soprano. And the men would be going to work and they’d hear us all singing. ‘The Boyds are singing!’ They’d stand outside and listen.” In the early 1940s, Sara guesses, she and her younger sisters Kitty and Ida won a singing contest. The prize was a radio program on WAJR, and they sang as The Boyd Sisters. Ida had a particularly special voice. “She was a contralto. She could have gone places,” Sara remembers. “She went

to Howard University Some members of The in Washington, D.C., Flying Colors performed at a 2014 Black History and later we worked Month event in Osage. at the Pentagon. Albert Anderson (left), Sara Boyd Little, Patty One time we didn’t Thomas, Kitty Hughes, have any money for and Christine LaDain. food. She got into a contest to sing and she won the prize, so then we had money to buy food. Another time she had a chance to do a duet with (internationally celebrated black contralto) Marion Anderson.” When the Boyd children grew up and had children of their own, they turned out to be a musical generation, too. “All the nieces and nephews sing and play instruments. When all of us get together— well, it’s a whole bunch,” Sara laughs. “When we have reunions, they come from Cleveland, Ohio, and everywhere, and you know what we do? Sing. Old songs that mom and dad taught us. I just love that.” That’s part of the origin story of The Flying Colors. Another part of the story is Albert Anderson—not a Boyd, but a lifelong friend and a sought-after vocalist from a young age. Albert grew up near Scotts Run, in Osage. He was a singer in the local group The Fabians in the late 1950s and early ’60s, then sang a short stint out in Los Angeles with Billy Ward and the Dominoes before he returned to Osage when his father’s health declined.

EVE FAULKES

THIS MATTERS

When people heard about us, we just had engagements. Churches everywhere said, ‘Let The Flying Colors come!’”

TYLER HARRINTON

SARA BOYD LITTLE

We hear his voice still as lead on the seasonal radio favorite, now 50 years old, “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?” After that, he had a career singing in clubs in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere. He operates a shoe repair shop in Osage today, and his voice is still going strong. So, about a decade ago, “we would be at funerals or weddings, and it seemed like we were always there—Christine, Kitty, Patty, Albert, me,” Sara recalls, naming several former and current musical colleagues. “They wouldn’t ever have anybody to sing. ‘Who’s going to sing?’ So we started singing, just like that. Christine LaDain, she’s our trombone player, she said, ‘Your name is going to be The Flying Colors because you’re going to be flying everywhere.’ And when people heard about us, we just had engagements. Churches everywhere said, ‘Let The Flying Colors come!’” The group is a large, loose assemblage of Boyd relations and like-minded musicians. Patty Thomas, a niece of Sara’s, plays keyboards, and her son Julian plays bass guitar. Sara and Patty’s children Jessica Thomas and Jewell Smith sing, along with Al Anderson. And there are others, regular and occasional, a group of natural musicmakers, many of them with a lifetime of shared history making music. “We don’t even practice,” Sara says. “We start in on a song and Julian picks it up and we just sing.

And we love it. Put the coffee pot on and we could sing all day long.” The group harmonizes its favorite tunes—a large repertoire that includes familiar spirituals like “This is the Day That the Lord Has Made,” “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” and “Down by the Riverside”— with tangible joy, upright postures, genuine smiles, gusto for the melodies and the meanings of the lyrics. Their harmonies are not over-rehearsed or canned—these are raw voices raised together in spontaneous rejoice, every performance a little different from

the last. Together their sound Sara Boyd seems enriched by the soulful Little sings around town achievements of endurance as part of The and love and true gratitude for Flying Colors. the gift of life. The Flying Colors don’t play any club circuit. They’re more interested in lifting up community and church events. To book The Flying Colors for your event, call Patty Thomas. 304.599.5047 written by pam kasey

MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

THIS MATTERS KNOW THIS

Solid Ideas

Local surfacing company Preferred Surfaces gives clients the custom treatment. ➼ NOEL AND BRADLEY HOUZE

sit at adjacent desks in one office. Noel, with 30 years of experience in the countertop industry, is explaining to a family of six that a marble kitchen countertop might not be the most practical choice for them, while Bradley, with her eye for design, calculates the measurements of a local bar they plan to resurface. The husband-and-wife team owns and operates Preferred Surfaces just outside Morgantown, where Bradley grew up, but they commute to Morgantown from Smithfield, Pennsylvania, not too far from Noel’s hometown of Point Marion. Sometimes the family dog comes down to the Morgantown office, too. “We have a good time—most of the time,” Bradley laughs. The natural stone and quartz surfacing company is a small family business that employs fewer than two dozen locals and attracts customers by word of mouth rather than flashy advertisements. Yet Preferred Surfaces is also one of the largest surfacing companies in the state, making over $3 million in sales last year. Preferred Surfaces provides more than 120 colors of granite and a wide selection of quartz as well as other surfacing materials like marble and Corian to residential and commercial clients all over West Virginia, southern Pennsylvania, and beyond. Both Bradley and Noel have had a while to hone their crafts and their customer service. Bradley comes from a family with a storied history of design and building in Morgantown—her family owned General Woodworking Company, Morgantown’s historic lumber company that had a major hand in early construction of the city we know today. General Woodworking operated on Beechurst Avenue in the early 20th century. The major lumber 24

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supplier moved to Westover in the 1920s and continued 1001 Chaplin Road 304.983.7730 to be a leader in local presurface.net construction until it closed in the 1990s— around the same time Noel was kicking off Preferred Surfaces. “Bradley had a short retirement before I drafted her to work with me,” he says. Noel also has a long history with his industry. He began building and fabricating Corian countertops under the business name Solid Surface Concepts in 1984. “I’ve wanted to be a builder since I was a little kid. I saw there was a niche in the market,” he says. In 1995, a Pittsburgh company opened with a Preferred Surfaces

Hundreds of slabs similar name, so Noel of granite, quartz, renamed his business and Corian sit ready for a project. Preferred Surfaces. Since then the staff This machine cuts at Preferred Surfaces countertops to exact have had their share of specifications. major productions, from resurfacing a huge sports bar and arcade in Chicago to installing a blue and gold granite bar in WVU basketball coach Bob Huggins’ home. Noel and his crew have installed their work throughout the state: the governor’s mansion in Charleston, the state Capitol, Mon General Hospital, the WVU Creative Arts Center, press boxes in Milan Puskar Stadium, and too many bars and restaurants in downtown Morgantown to count. Perhaps most

The Flying WV signs that welcome visitors to WVU campuses were installed by Preferred Surfaces.

THIS MATTERS

recognizable to Morgantown residents now are the granite WVU logo monuments found at all corners of campus. Designing these monuments was a challenge—Bradley sized the Flying WV section to fit perfectly on both sides of each monument, making the logo visible from nearly all directions. But what they love to do more than anything else? “We really, really like custom homes,” Noel says. “Commercial work that comes along, we’ll take it, but we really prefer the residential projects.” When shopping for new countertops, customers can browse nearly 500 slabs across the Preferred Surfaces warehouse to visualize the many grains and colors that could soon grace their kitchens and bathrooms, as opposed to picking up a few small samples of materials. But what Noel says really separates Preferred Surfaces from its competition in West Virginia is the company’s service after sale. “You chip a countertop with a frying pan, and we’ll fix it free of charge,” he says. “We had a guy with a stainless steel sink that had a crack in it—I had never seen stainless steel crack in my life—and we replaced it free of charge.” Although Preferred Surfaces relied on hand tools and saws in its early days, Noel eventually switched to automated machines—all manufactured in the U.S.—along with a water recycling system that makes cutting materials with water more energy-efficient. The company also upgraded to computer technologies that show customers precisely what their projects will look like by scanning slabs of material, inputting countertop or other surface measurements, and virtually rearranging the slab to fit customers’ exact specifications. That information is then transferred directly to the machines that cut the countertop material, and the finished product comes out exactly the way customers envisioned on the computer. Over the years, Noel’s business has moved from a small workshop in Westover to a giant warehouse by Mylan Park, and his staff has expanded from an eight-man crew to 18 full-time and two part-time employees. And as for Noel and Bradley? They don’t see themselves leaving. “We take pride in people being satisfied by our work,” Noel says. written and photographed by JENNIFER SKINNER MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

THIS MATTERS CONSIDERTHIS

Almost Impossible to Live Alone? A person living in Monongalia County has to earn $12.19 an hour to afford a modest one-bedroom apartment at fair-market rents, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. Is that reasonable?

That’s on just one income for almost a third of Mon County residents, who are single people living alone.

To be affordable, rent and utilities must not exceed 30% of household income.

A one-bedroom fair-market rent sits at $634, according to NLIHC.

Monongalia County’s mean renter wage sits at $9.72/hour. A single resident living alone would have to work 50 hours a week at the mean renter wage to afford a onebedroom apartment—and 61 hours at minimum wage of $8.

Sources livingwage.mit.edu nlihc.org/oor/west-virginia census.gov 26

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And let’s be honest: If you’re not a student, what kind of a one-bedroom apartment can you get in Monongalia County or Morgantown for $634, utilities included?

THIS MATTERS SUPPORTTHIS SEETHIS

Ring the Bell! Self-Taught

➼ MORGANTOWN HIGH SCHOOL’s Mohigan Red and Blue Marching Band has been selected to represent West Virginia at the 75th Anniversary Pearl Harbor Commemorative Parade and memorial service in Hawaii in December 2016. Bands will march down Kalakaua Avenue in Waikiki as a tribute to U.S. veterans and armed forces, and the MHS band will ring a bell in honor of each of the men who died when the battleship U.S.S. West Virginia sank during the Pearl Harbor attack. The band has raised about $100,000 of $900,000 needed to take all 270-plus members on this educational trip. The community can help band students meet their goal in many ways. » Events Tuesday, April 26 Spring band concert, MHS gymnasium Sunday, May 15 Coach/Pampered Chef Bingo, MHS cafeteria Saturday, July 16 MHS Band Poker Run—ticket sales begin in May » Ongoing Get your 2015-16 MHS band discount card $6 for one or two for $10. Savings at local merchants continue through August 31, 2016. New cards for the 2016-17 academic year will be available in July. Kroger Community Rewards Program Link your Kroger rewards account to the Mohigan Red and Blue Marching Band account at kroger.com/communityrewards Make a donation online at gofundme.com/ringthebell New events are organized often—see the band website for more opportunities to support the MHS marching band. mohiganband.com

Appalachian Artists

MICHAEL LOOP

MHS is raising nearly $1 million to fund a commemorative trip to Hawaii.

“The Happy Family,” 1982 ➼ WHERE IS THE LINE between carving by West Virginia artist craft and art? That judgment brings the Shields Landon “S.L.” Jones eye of the beholder discerningly into play. (1901-1997). Jones’ work appears in the collections of At the Art Museum of WVU’s new exhibit The Smithsonian American Art “Independent Vision: Self-Taught Artists Museum, the American Folk Art from Appalachia,” visitors will see 100 Museum in New York, and the pieces that two avid collectors judged to Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center in Williamsburg, Virginia. be on the “art” side of that line. In a collection begun in the 1940s, West Virginia native Ramona Love Lampell and her late husband Millard Lampell bought the works of self-taught Appalachian sculptors, painters, wood carvers, and basket makers. Self-taught artists tend to use readily available materials—clay, house paint, found objects—and often work in relative obscurity, but “their work conveys a perspective rooted in a sense of place,” the museum’s media release says, “a sure hand and a confident expression of specific values and perceptions, not constrained by rigid boundaries of art pedagogy or criticism.” Ramona wanted to highlight the vitality of Appalachian culture. The Lampells ultimately gathered one of the most comprehensive collections of Appalachian folk art in the world. Ramona has gifted a portion of it to the Art Museum of WVU and has promised the remainder. Among pieces on display will be wood carvings by West Virginia artist S.L. Jones, who began carving after a career with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. “Jones creates large heads and full figures. He is often concerned with different facial expressions, and each piece has its own distinct personality,” says museum Curator Robert Bridges. “His carvings are very dynamic with unselfconscious carving and original style.” “Independent Vision: Self-Taught Artists from Appalachia” includes pieces from Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Virginia as well as West Virginia. The exhibit opens at 7 p.m. on April 15, an event Ramona will attend, and will be on display into December. All events are free and open to the public. artmuseum.wvu.edu

MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

THIS MATTERS WATCHTHIS

New Qualityof-Life Issues on May Ballot A sharp reduction in coal severance tax revenues leaves residents to weigh their options. ➼ FOR THE FIRST TIME , on the May 10 ballot, Monongalia County residents will be asked to consider taxing their own real property to pay for services previously covered by coal severance taxes. A downturn in severance tax revenues has left the county commission without a funding stream for these services. “We won’t know how much it’s gone down this year until we get the final checks,” says County Commission President Eldon Callen of the 2015-16 fiscal year that ends June 30, 2016. “We budgeted over $1 million, and it appears we’re only going to be getting around $600,000 or $700,000.” That’s down from higher amounts still several years ago. By statute, 75 percent of coal severance funds are directed at agencies that provide quality-of-life services, everything from emergency response to libraries to public parks. “The funding source that has been used for 40-plus years to provide grants to these various nonprofit and service-oriented organizations is no longer there,” Eldon says. “It’s not coming back.” And while the county could simply raise its property tax levy rate to cover these services, the commission decided to allow voters to decide for themselves. Other counties already have similar levies, he points out. Some of these services save lives. “In parts of the county that aren’t covered by paid fire service, volunteer fire departments are critical,” Eldon says, asking voters to consider these small levies carefully. “If you have proximity to a firefighting station, you can save as much as $200 a year on your homeowner’s insurance, so with the fire response levy, you’re going to save by paying the levy.” The Mountain Line levy had already been in the works for a while based on reduced federal funding for public transit. “The rural routes, the Transit Board has 28

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stated, are most likely the ones that will go away if this levy doesn’t pass,” Eldon says. “The issue there is, if you don’t provide people a means to get to work, how are you going to operate your business? If you don’t provide a means for people to get to the shopping areas, what does that mean for your sales? Your customer base starts to disappear.” The other levies, for libraries, recreation, and fairs and festivals, are key for attracting and keeping businesses. “The number one issue employers have when they look at Monongalia County is, ‘What is it my employees and their families can do there? How can they enjoy their family life?’” says Eldon, who has worked in economic development. “It comes down to whether the voters are willing to pay pennies a day to have these additional quality-of-life services. If not, will they cease to exist?” The six levies are as follows. Class II is owner-occupied real estate.

IMPORTANT DATES April 19, 2016

Primary election voter registration deadline Register or update your voter registration online at ovr.sos.wv.gov/Register Primary election and election of nonpartisan offices (judges, school board) Early voting April 27–May 7 Emergency absentee voting May 3–May 10 Primary election day Tuesday, May 10 Polling places occasionally change. To confirm yours, check monongaliacountyclerk.com.

1. Fire Departments A special election to authorize additional levy for the fiscal years beginning July 1, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 for the Monongalia County Volunteer Fire Departments, the Monongalia Hazardous Incident Response Team, the Monongalia County Brush Fire Team, and the Monongalia County Volunteer Fire Companies Association, Inc., in the amount of $688,689 annually and $3,443,445 during the term of the levy. The additional rate of levy in cents per one hundred dollars of assessed valuation on each class of property shall be: Class I .42 cents Class II .84 cents Class III 1.68 cents 1.68 cents Class IV In the event the separate and aggregate assessed value of each class of taxable property within the county increases during the term of the special excess levy, the levy rate shall be reduced so that the projected tax collection will not exceed $688,689 in any fiscal year.

2. Public Libraries A special election to authorize additional levy for the fiscal years beginning July 1, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 for the Morgantown Public Library System in the amount of $442,730 annually and $2,213,650 during the term of the levy. The additional rate of levy in cents per

one hundred dollars of assessed valuation on each class of property shall be: Class I .27 cents Class II .54 cents Class III 1.08 cents Class IV 1.08 cents In the event the separate and aggregate assessed value of each class of taxable property within the county increases during the term of the special excess levy, any surplus funds received may be utilized for the same purposes during the fiscal year so received.

3. Public Transportation Election to authorize additional levy for the fiscal years beginning July 1, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 for the purpose of contributing funds from such levy to the Monongalia County Urban Mass Transportation Authority (Mountain Line) for the purpose of acquiring equipment and other capital improvements and payment of a portion of its general operation, maintenance, and other expenses in the amount of $1,803,711 annually and $9,018,555 during the term of the levy. The additional levy in cents per one hundred dollars of assessed valuation for property shall be: Class I 1.10 cents Class II 2.20 cents Class III 4.40 cents Class IV 4.40 cents

4. Parks A levy for fiscal years beginning July 1, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 for the purpose of providing funding and maintenance of the parks, trails, and recreation programs in the amount of $951,047 annually and $4,755,235 during the term of the levy. Those funding items include: operation, expenses, and other capital improvements for Camp Muffly Park, Chestnut Ridge Park, Mason-Dixon Historical Park, Mon River and Deckers Creek rail-trails, Westover Park baseball facilities, Cheat Lake and Laurel Point soccer fields and the Morgantown Ice Arena. The additional levy in cents per one hundred dollars of assessed valuation on each class of property within Monongalia County shall be: .58 cents Class I 1.16 cents Class II 2.32 cents Class III 2.32 cents Class IV

5. Youth Fields and Botanic Garden A levy for fiscal years beginning July 1, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 for the purpose of providing funding and maintenance of eight BOPARC youth baseball and youth softball fields, and related bleachers, concession stands, and pavilions, and the West Virginia Botanic Garden (excluding staff salaries) in Monongalia County, West Virginia, in the amount of $100,038 annually and $500,190 during the term of the levy. Those funding items include: operation, expenses, and other capital improvements for BOPARC youth baseball and youth softball fields at White Park, Krepps Park, Marilla Park, Jack Roberts Park, and Valley View, and for the West Virginia Botanic Garden. The additional levy in cents per one hundred dollars of assessed valuation on each class of property within Monongalia County shall be: .06 cents Class I .12 cents Class II .24 cents Class III .24 cents Class IV

6. Fairs A levy for fiscal years beginning July 1, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 for the purpose of providing funding and maintenance of three fairs in Monongalia County, West Virginia, in the amount of $85,747 annually and $428,735 during the term of the levy. Those funding items include: operation, expenses, and other capital improvements for Clay District Fair Association, Monongalia County Fair Association, Inc., and Battelle District Fair Association. The additional levy in cents per one hundred dollars of assessed valuation on each class of property within Monongalia County shall be: Class I .05 cents Class II .10 cents Class III .21 cents Class IV .21 cents written by pam kasey MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

THIS MATTERS DRINKTHIS

Just Juicin’ As weather warms, we’re already itching to cool down. “It’s hot!” someone recently said in the New South Media offices. “It’s barely spring!” someone else replied. Still, it’s never too soon to get your juice game on, especially when Morgantown’s international groceries and restaurants offer such a colorful array of exotic and refreshing drinks.

Chico’s Fat Burritos 456 High Street 304.241.4712

Kroger 500 Suncrest Towne Centre Drive 304.285.6780

Garcia’s Latin Market

Kassar’s Food & Gifts

143 High Street 304.241.1871

1137 Van Voorhis Road 304.599.7252

Koreana Asian Market 293 Don Knotts Boulevard 304.291.2388

MORGANTOWN • APR/MAY 2016

THIS MATTERS

LOVETHIS

Timber Craftsmanship Recovered Rustics transforms old wood to stylish new pieces. ➼ THE MODERN-MEETS-RUSTIC trend in home and office design is going hard and doesn’t show any signs of slowing down—especially in West Virginia, where homeowners love the way natural earth tones like wood and stone soften the modern, clean-line aesthetic. Meet Beau Robinson: Beau owns Recovered Rustics, a small business that reclaims wood, builds custom furniture, and remodels homes using authentic timber frames Beau mills himself. Based in Fairmont, Beau started his business 32

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almost three years ago when he was asked to create a small pallet chair for his brother-in-law. “I threw some pallets together, posted some pictures of it, and it blew up. People loved it,” he says. “Everybody likes the rustic, reclaimed, vintage style nowadays.” From shelving to dining room tables to television consoles to cutting boards, every handmade wooden piece Recovered Rustics creates is built to order. Beau’s most popular creations are tailgate coolers that he wraps with reclaimed

wood—he made Recovered Rustics 39 of them last recoveredrustics.com year. Channeling 304.771.3170 inspiration from HGTV, Beau also gets requests for installations, like the wall of recovered barn wood he installed in 2015 at Crossfit Ridgeline in Morgantown, giving the gym a sleek but rustic look. “A customer can come to us with a picture or an idea, and we can make it exactly how they want it,” he says. Beau has plans to open a store, hire a crew, and teach others how to DIY with a YouTube channel, but for now he runs the business by himself. And while he stays busy taking orders, making estimates, and building his pieces out of his home, he can’t imagine spending his time working any other job. “I love taking something old and making something new of it, repurposing it, bringing it back to life.” written by JENNIFER SKINNER

ROAD RAGE

Blue Curb S Blues The number of cars in Morgantown is growing but parking is slow to catch up, leaving residents in a tight spot.

ue Gimbal knew she was breaking the rules, but it was 12:30 at night and she didn’t care. She had spent the day at South Middle School for the Gardner Winter Music Festival. It was late February, pretty cold, her car was loaded down with banjos, guitars, and lawn chairs, and she couldn’t find a parking spot anywhere close to her Brockway Avenue apartment. After circling and circling without any luck, Sue finally spotted a small gap in the cars about 500 yards from her front door. It wasn’t an ideal spot—about half the curb was painted blue and other half was yellow—but since her car wouldn’t be blocking anyone’s driveway, she figured it might be OK. “It was late, I was tired, and finally I had no choice,” MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

ROAD RAGE

BLUE CURB CITATIONS IN 2015 500

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she says. She squeezed her car into the spot, dragged her gear inside her front door, and went to sleep. Morgantown Police were still wideawake, however. Around 1:30 a.m., the cops spotted Sue’s improvised parking spot and stuck a $20 ticket to her windshield. Then, five hours later, enforcement officers with the Morgantown Parking Authority also noticed the illegal parking job and wrote another $20 ticket. “They put them side-by-side,” Sue says. Sue has lived on Brockway for about a year. She says she had no idea how difficult parking would be before she moved in. “There’s not enough blue, that’s the problem. People are constantly jockeying for spots, idling on the streets. Parking on the yellow and then anxiously watching out the window,” she says. “It’s stressful. If it’s late in the afternoon, if I leave my parking spot to run to Aldi, I might spend an hour looking for a place to park.” She’s been known to make the fourmile walk to the grocery store, just to avoid moving her car.

Blue Curb Parking This scenario probably sounds familiar, depending on where you live in Morgantown. In many residential neighborhoods, the curbs are color-coded. A blue curb means only drivers with city-issued permits can park there during certain hours of the day. Yellow means no parking at any time. A plain gray curb means anyone can park there, permit or not, for up to 48 hours. If the car is left there longer than two days, it can be reported to city police as “abandoned”— and possibly even towed. The idea behind the painted curb 34

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program is to reserve street parking for people who live in neighborhoods and discourage outsiders from taking up the scarce space. The system was developed in the early 1990s in South Park to keep students at Morgantown High School from overwhelming the street parking near campus during school hours. It’s now in nine neighborhoods citywide, and expands to one or two neighborhoods each year based on neighborhood association requests. A three-member committee evaluates proposals, inventories parking spots in the neighborhoods, and determines how the districts will be drawn. “There’s some science that goes into it, rather than ‘get somebody off my street,’” says Tom Arnold, executive director of the Morgantown Parking Authority, the agency charged with administering the blue curb program. “You don’t want to create additional problems in other neighborhoods.” It’s a less-than-perfect system, however, and a source of constant frustration for drivers citywide. As the program has expanded, Morgantown’s infrastructure has not. “The streets are still the same width,” Tom says. The MPA works to ensure the number of issued permits corresponds to the number of available parking spots, but that does not guarantee residents convenient parking spots. “There’s room for them to park in their neighborhood, just not in front of their house,” Tom says. The problem is particularly bad in the city’s older neighborhoods, like Sunnyside, where single-family homes were converted into apartments housing half a dozen students. When these neighborhoods were built decades ago, few provisions were made for off-street parking because it wasn’t

necessary at the time—each home only had one or two cars. “Now you’re looking at four, five, six cars and no off-street parking,” Tom says. “It’s like trying to put 10 pounds of sugar in a two-pound bag.”

Paying for Enforcement In an effort to keep drivers honest, Morgantown City Council has authorized the MPA and Morgantown City Police to issue $20 citations to scofflaws. Parking authority officers issued 2,997 blue curb citations in 2015. Police and parking enforcement officers also can boot cars with multiple outstanding citations and have the vehicles towed. Citations often spike in the first few weeks after WVU students return to class, Tom says, and then level off. Tom says his agency doesn’t use revenue from these citations to balance its budget because the MPA does not want

ROAD RAGE

ABANDONED AFTER TWO DAYS?

Because Morgantown police can’t possibly recognize every vehicle on every street, the department largely relies on citizens to identify abandoned vehicles, says Chief of Police Ed Preston. “Some are a lot better than others. I’ve got a couple streets where people are very vigilant,” he says. A citizen’s report isn’t enough to issue a citation, however. “We have to be able to prove it hasn’t moved in 48 hours,” Ed says. When a call comes in about an abandoned vehicle, police tag the car with a bright red or fluorescent green tag. If the car is still there 48 hours later, police issue a parking ticket. If it’s still not moved, police will tow the vehicle, although the timeline for this can vary. “It could be anywhere between 48 hours and 10 days before a vehicle is towed, depending on the situation,” Ed says. If a car presents a safety hazard, police tow it immediately. If not, it may take a little longer. Police call the 911 center, which calls a towing service listed on a rotating list managed by the Monongalia County Commission. to depend on that money. “If you start thinking in those terms you’ll want to write more and more citations,” he says. “Our goal for citations is zero. We don’t want to write them.” The agency instead gets part of its revenue from parking permits. Permit fees differ, depending on your neighborhood. Sue, for instance, pays $15 a year for her permit. Sunnyside residents pay $20 a year, while others pay $5. The MPA sold 3,017 parking permits in 2015, collecting $17,734. That money will be used to replace parking signs and repaint curbs.

Gradual Change Tom acknowledges the whole process can be a headache for residents. But he also admits that’s part of the point of the blue curb program: The city wants to encourage property owners to develop

off-street parking. That’s starting to happen, as some old buildings are torn down to make way for pay lots and garages. “We’ve seen a huge chain of events that way. That’s been very, very positive,” he says. New developments in the city are also required to provide space for parking. That’s little comfort to renters like Sue. For her part, she believes the city isn’t doing enough to maximize the parking that’s already available. “I’m looking out my window right now and I see places that could be painted blue,” she says. Her double-ticket experience came to a somewhat happy conclusion. A few days after receiving her tickets, she went to the MPA’s office on Spruce Street and explained her situation. A worker there apologized, saying Sue shouldn’t have received a second ticket for the same offense, and waived the

ticket the MPA issued. Sue then went down the hall to the police department and paid her original $20 fine. She says parking troubles are a constant topic of conversation with her neighbors. When Gimbal expressed her frustrations on the “South Park Neighbors, Morgantown” Facebook group, fellow resident Danny Williams shared his own story: “We moved to the neighborhood the day of the huge snow. I knew there would be yellow curb near the corner, so I parked about 20 feet up the street because I couldn’t actually see the ice-covered curb,” he wrote. “The first night the snow melted, I woke up, looked out, and saw that the yellow curb extends farther than I had thought—and that I had a ticket for parking on a yellow curb I had never seen.” written by ZACK HAROLD photographed by KATIE GRIFFITH MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

THE U

Springtime Soaring High-altitude balloon satellites let engineers study Earth from dozens of miles above the ground.

THE U

ohn Kuhlman’s students have seen their projects get hit by trains, eaten by raccoons, and wander as far as Charlottesville, Virginia. Every mission is different, and though John’s students usually get the data from their projects— balloon satellites propelled into space— back the same day they are launched, sometimes variables like weather, animals, and man-made projectiles don’t bode well. After all, when you send a balloon 90,000 feet into the sky, what can you expect but a wild chase? John, a WVU professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering (MAE), teaches a balloon satellite course every spring with the goal of exposing students to the hands-on experience of proposing, designing, building, flying, and analyzing a data-collecting weather balloon. Since the course’s inception, students have launched about 20 balloon satellites into the stratosphere and have collected data on everything from basic temperature and pressure changes to how altitude affects fruit flies when you send their enclosed moss habitats into space. The idea for the balloon satellite course began in 2002 when John attended a professional workshop at the University of Colorado Boulder, where his team learned how to design and launch a balloon satellite from a box of pre-selected parts. “We got to do a chase and everything. It was so exciting and inspiring,” John says. When he returned to WVU he thought a similar experiment would be good experience for his students. “It’s a low-cost, low-risk way for the students to see what a space mission might look like, even though we don’t go into space,” John says. “They always get their mission accepted, which might not always happen on the job.” The balloon satellites work like this: Students send a .002 centimeter-thick balloon—that’s about the thickness of a generic sandwich bag—into the stratosphere for a few hours to gather information about the weather. National research balloons, by contrast, may carry telescopes for a broad look at space and might remain afloat for six weeks. It’s more economical than sending up a whole spaceship. Attached to a balloon satellite is the key to research—a payload box that contains a GPS system to track the balloon’s flight and detect atmospheric data like pressure and temperature levels. For his class, John recruited fellow engineering professor Mike Palmer to develop a lightweight electronic board that uses GPS

transmitters to broadcast balloon locations to teams with AM radios on the ground. A camera is also connected to the payload to capture the view of the earth when the balloon peaks in space. Finally, a parachute is attached to the payload to ensure it floats to the ground safely. Sound simple? The real challenge arrives when the students must race against time to locate their fallen

Most years, students balloons. If they take find their boxes and too long, the payloads parachutes stuck in might be in danger trees 100 feet above the ground. of getting destroyed by outside factors like wind, trees, or vehicles. “We have to project where it’s going to land based on the current winds and the altitude it falls at, but sometimes we’re unlucky and we just don’t get close enough on that first try,” John says. MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

THE U

The balloon satellite course was offered to students for the first time in 2003. During the course’s fifth year, Mike had just built a brand new tracking box that traveled with a balloon all the way to Winchester, Virginia. It took an hour and a half for the team to drive to the payload after it landed in a web of cables above train tracks. “It wouldn’t have been that hard to get it out of the telephone wires, but within that hour and half, a train had gone over the boxes. We walked up and down the tracks for three hours and we didn’t find everything,” John recalls. Eventually, the students got some of their data, but Mike had to build another tracking box for the next year. Another year, the team just couldn’t get a good enough signal to locate the payload by the time the sun set on launch day. When they returned for the payload a month later, they found it decorated with raccoon teeth marks and chewed into multiple pieces. But the benefits of the research findings and the overall experience typically outweigh the costs of a crazy balloon chase. “It’s been an eye opener,” John says, and not just for students learning to control—or give up control of—their first experiments. “Sometimes there’s this serendipity when someone you don’t know helps out.” John remembers one experiment in which a friendly stranger spent his day trying to get a team’s payload out of a tree. The man, after seeing the balloon satellite team on his property, lent them a chainsaw and gave the permission needed to get the payload down. “He was just on-the-fly interested enough to make it so we could take those payloads home on the day of the mission.” The students in John’s class learn flexibility and persistence while experiencing the thrill of the research process. No one knows that better than Aaron Dunkle, a first-year graduate student in aerospace engineering who took the balloon satellite class twice as an undergraduate. “Classes like this are an opportunity to see what engineering will be like after college, an engineer sitting down with a project and figuring out how to go about completing that project,” he says. When Aaron took the class the first time around, his team’s launch was featured on FOX’s Xploration Outer Space, a television series hosted by WVU MAE alum Emily Calendrelli. Being filmed for a TV show was exciting, but being followed around by the TV crew limited the team to testing the equipment until the night before the launch. As 38

MORGANTOWN • APR/MAY 2016

Jacob Maynard cuts styrofoam pieces for his team’s payload box.

if they needed another complication, Aaron’s group’s onboard computer malfunctioned during the test, disabling the digital trigger for their experiment to start mid-flight and leaving just seven hours to design a new mechanism before leaving for the launch site in the morning. “The design that we came up with in that limited time ended up working, so

Mario Alberto (left) that made the launch and Ajay Kavuri use that much better,” 5-minute epoxy to Aaron says. “There glue their payload was so much going boxes together. on between the latenight redesign of a semester’s worth of work, being followed by the film crew for the show, and for the first time seeing something we made fly.

THE U FROM LEFT Engineering students prepare to watch their scientific creations float high into the sky. A single frame from the balloon video captures unique cloud patterns and the curvature of the Earth.

There’s a lot about that day that I will remember.” And that’s why John loves what he does. He prepares his students for employers that value these lessons. “I don’t tell them ahead of time that it’s going to be difficult or different,” he says. “Someone who likes to plan and be in control has to step out of their comfort zone because of the wind, the weather, the set-up isn’t optimal, or the tracking hardware isn’t working. ... I’m hopeful that those kinds of experiences are helpful once they’re out in careers on the job.” This year, John’s 14th group of balloon satellite students will work to get their projects in order by the time they launch in April at Jackson’s Mill in Weston. “We don’t just design the payload, we test it, too, which makes this project awesome,” says Mario Alberto, a senior in the balloon satellite course. Mario’s team, headed by Ajay Kavuri, is engineering a camera mounted to the payload to create a virtual reality experience of space that can be viewed with headsets down on Earth. “The idea is to create an experience as if a person is equipped to travel high-altitude in space,” Ajay says. “Creating a virtual reality experience would help us get a feel for the payload trajectory and help visualize various elements it encounters during the mission.” John didn’t really think he’d be teaching a balloon satellite course for a decade and more after attending that initial workshop 14 years ago, but he’s left his mark on students who will always remember, as he says, “the thrill of victory instead of the agony of defeat” in watching their projects soar high into the sky.

written by JENNIFER SKINNER photos courtesy of JOHN KUHLMAN MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

An Insider’s Guide to

MORGANTOWN’S TOP NEIGHBORHOODS and Hidden Gems

As much as Morgantown inspires loyalty—schools, natural beauty, a thriving downtown— the city’s neighborhoods tell a deeper love story. Residents pick their neighborhoods based on their interests: Suncrest is all family and schools. South Park, Greenmont, and First Ward residents prize walkability, parks, and access to downtown. Cheat Lakers enjoy modern living and weekends on the water. Where you live says a lot about what you like, and once folks find their places, many find it hard to leave. Take a gander through our very unofficial, yet still quite complete, guide to Morgantown living to see if your hat hangs where it belongs.

written by Katie Griffith

Where should your hat hang? IS PROXIMITY TO DOWNTOWN IMPORTANT TO YOU?

Very

Not soMuch

ARE YOU A WALKER OR A DRIVER? Walking to restaurants keeps me young at heart.

DO YOU PREFER TOWN OR RURAL LIVING?

Driving is best. I've got stuff to carry.

I need easy access to my job, the schools, and WVU.

I need space to breathe and kick back.

ARE YOU LOOKING FOR AN ESTABLISHED NEIGHBORHOOD?

p.50

p.45

WESTOVER or GRANVILLE

WHAT DO LARGE HISTORIC HOMES DO FOR YOU? Everything

Not a whole lot

p.42

PARKS OR NEARBY AMENITIES?

SOUTH PARK

I want my trees well-established.

Not a consideration!

p.43

GREENMONT

p.44

Best bang for my buck!

FIRST WARD

p.47

SUNCREST p.48

EASY INTERSTATE ACCESS? p.46

STAR CITY

New building in an up-and-coming part of town is best for me.

PRICES?

Amenities! Parks for sure

CHEAT LAKE

Yes!

Closer to the center of town

BROOKHAVEN p.49

WOODBURN or WILES HILL

Don’ t miss these downtown favorites

South Park Morgantown

Chocolate Lovers’ Day Take your sweet tooth for a walk. Chocolate lovers visit downtown and Wharf District restaurants and shops for the best chocolate treats Morgantown can offer. April 16, 2016

Morgantown Farmers Market Morgantown is serious about eating local. The farmers’ market is a top weekend spot from May through November and on select winter weekends. Get there early for your pick of the goods.

MedExpress Kids Day All the world’s a playground—at least in downtown Morgantown when kids take over the town for a day of games and fun. July 16, 2016

Morgantown Public Library Come for the weekend reading events, arts and crafts, kids’ parties, and more, and don’t leave without a book or three.

Arts Walk Local businesses are open late and showcase local artists and their work. October 7, 2016 South Park

History, charm, and walkability—it’s hard to argue against a neighborhood like South Park where, when the weather is fine, neighbors are quick to smile and murmur a passing greeting. The housing isn’t cheap, by Morgantown standards, but you get what you pay for: tree-lined streets packed with historic homes, tiny gardens bursting with flowers, and an easy walk to the restaurants and shopping of downtown Morgantown. Homes in South Park are well-cared for, many having gone up during the neighborhood boom of the early 1900s when Morgantown’s farmland was split into developments. More than 500 homes in this neighborhood have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places—the Waitman T. Willey House and the Alexander Wade House are two notable examples—and there always seems to be some sort of new renovation in the works.

Morgantown History Museum A well-appointed and in-depth little museum behind the Mon Arts Center, this is a great stop to learn more about Morgantown’s history.

The Metropolitan Theatre Since a renovation in the early 2000s, the Met, as it is affectionately known, has come to host many local music and cultural events from plays to high school band concerts.

Mountainview Elementary, South Middle, and Morgantown High *Street-specific school district information can be found at boe.mono.k12.wv.us.

TOP EVENT

South Park Association of Neighbors organizes an annual neighborhood-wide yard sale in August when students return to WVU.

MORGANTOWN • APR/MAY 2016

PARKING PAINS

As Morgantown expands, its troubles with traffic and parking seem ever-increasing. One way the city is attempting to combat the problem is by issuing parking permits in highdensity neighborhoods like South Park, Greenmont, First Ward, and Wiles Hill. Parking permissions are designated by

curb color. If a curb is blue, you’ll need an annual city parking pass to leave your car there on weekdays. Proof of home ownership or a rental agreement are required to get one of these passes. If a curb is gray, residents are free to park without a pass—but only for a certain amount of time. After 48 hours in one spot, residents must move their cars or face towing (see page 33).

ELIZABETH ROTH

SCHOOLS

TOP EATS IN GREENMONT Chestnut Brew Works

Tap a pint from the source! The brews you love to enjoy at restaurants around town are made on location with a taproom available for when you just can’t make it downtown.

Green Arch Market

Greenmont Morgantown

Greenmont

It has many of the same perks of South Park— walkability and historic homes—but offers a more affordable price point. Greenmont has long been a WVU student haven of the neighborhoods abutting downtown, but the location isn’t all late-night parties. Originally planned as a working-class neighborhood with narrow streets and utilitarian 19th century homes, Greenmont maintains a diverse and close-knit feel. Residents love their neighborhood joints like Gene’s Beer Garden, Green Arch Market, Phoenix Bakery, and the newly opened South Perk Market, but they also enjoy easy access to other parts of town. Downtown Morgantown is just a hop and a bridge away, the rail-trail connects residents to the Wharf District, Star City, Sabraton, and beyond, and Marilla Park is an easy walk, bike, or drive.

Try a burger or barbeque! This is comfort food and comforting neighborhood atmosphere at its best. Try your meal with a side of mac ’n’ cheese, too. You won’t regret it.

Gene’s Beer Garden

The local watering hole offers the best bar food around and a selection of cool drafts to

THE NEXT STEP Greenmont beautification in the form of a new pedestrian bridge has been given the go-ahead by the West Virginia Division of Highways, according to Greenmont Neighborhood Association President Matthew Held. Alpha Associates is working up a design of the bridge—with public forums in the works—that will span Deckers Creek under the Walnut Street Bridge, a location where a late18th century bridge once connected

wash it all down. Order a pint and a chili dog and live like a local.

Phoenix Bakery

Pick up a pizza from this neighborhood bakery. The specials, particularly, are worth coming back for every week. Though, the scones, breads, cookies, and muffins don’t hurt either.

South Perk Market

Residents love the easy access to morning coffee with a bit of neighborly conversation to boot.

downtown with the area known as Lower Greenmont. Back then Lower Greenmont was an ethnically diverse neighborhood dotted with independent food shops and working-class homes. Today the neighborhood has seen a rebirth of those independent food shops and forays into historical tourism are next on the revitalization plans. Bridge building is expected to begin by 2017, but could come as early as this year.

SCHOOLS

Mountainview Elementary, South Middle, and Morgantown High

TOP EVENT

ELIZABETH ROTH

The Greenmont Block Party, hosted by the Greenmont Neighborhood Association, is the talk of summertime fun.

MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

First Ward Morgantown

First Ward

Located behind South Park and South Hills, First Ward is another near-downtown neighborhood that offers charm and location without the price tag of a grand South Park home. With an eclectic mix of bungalows, ranch-style homes, and American FourSquares, First Ward is known as a quiet family neighborhood and the large Jack Roberts Park sits at its heart. Long, flat streets stretch above Don Knotts Boulevard and along Dorsey Avenue out to White Park on Mississippi Street. Here, visitors will find joggers, dog lovers, and families young and old out for a jaunt.

BARRELS OF FUN

Nonprofits and government partner to offer rainwater barrel workshops. When spring storms dump the heavens onto our roofs and down our storm drains, homeowners can’t help but wonder at the possibilities of catching some of that aqua to cut water bills. And then it’s time to mow lawns and pull weeds and all thoughts of harnessing rainwater are left for the next storm. But wonder no more! Morgantown Utility Board and Friends of Deckers Creek have partnered to offer city residents workshops on storm water runoff, storm water impact on local water resources and infrastructure, and—best of all—ready-to-install rain barrels complete with tutorials on their care. The first workshop, which sold out within six hours of its announcement, took place in March.

MUB and FODC have plans to continue the workshops throughout the year, with the next scheduled for May 21. “We’re hoping to both educate people about storm water runoff and provide people a way use rainwater,” says FODC organizer Holly Purpura. “It’s a great opportunity for someone to reduce their water demand and for individuals who live in neighborhoods like South Park with issues of storm water runoff.” The workshop costs $25, which includes the barrels and installation kits, a price made possible by workshop subsidies provided by MUB and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. Each workshop is capped at about 20 attendees. For more information or to sign up for the workshop waiting list, email Holly at holly@deckerscreek.org.

SCHOOLS

JACK ROBERTS PARK In winter it’s full of kids and neighbors sledding and building snowmen. In summer it’s busy with pickup games of kickball, kids practicing their slow-pitch, and little feet kicking off to the clouds on swing sets. Jack Roberts Park is at the center of First Ward both literally and figuratively. 44

MORGANTOWN • APR/MAY 2016

NIKKI BOWMAN; COURTESY OF HOLLY PURPURA

Mountainview Elementary, South Middle, and Morgantown High

Westover & Granville Granville Westover

Morgantown

“City on the rise,” reads the sign welcoming pedestrians and drivers coming from downtown Morgantown into Westover. This township of 4,000 is distinct from Morgantown but shares schools and services. Homes and yards are often bigger than what residents in other downtown-adjacent neighborhoods enjoy, while home prices can be far less expensive, making Westover a spot many first-time homeowners and young families are looking to settle down. Its proximity to downtown Morgantown and to Interstate 79 has long offered residents the best of both worlds: easy access to restaurants and nightlife and quicker access to places beyond. The border between Westover and Granville sits approximately at Dents Run Boulevard, but both municipalities are enjoying a period of growth thanks to the University Town Centre, the new Monongalia County Ball Park, and other development.

SCHOOLS COURTESY OF WESTOVER ROCKETS

Skyview Elementary, Westwood Middle, and University High

FUN FACT

Granville resident Marmaduke H. Dent, born in 1849, was reputedly the first graduate of West Virginia University in 1870.

DECADES OF SPORT

Fond summer memories start with cloying heat waves carrying the scents of freshly cut grass and chlorine from the pool. They’re bolstered by the joyous sounds of kids free for three months from school, homework, early bedtimes, and earlier bus schedules. Instead summer is a haven of popsicles, romps through the neighborhood, and, of course, the summer youth sports. Kids have been funneling through Morgantown’s neighborhood teams for decades. Those kids grow up, become coaches, and then have kids of their own to send through the ranks—just look at the Westover Rockets, a youth football team that coaches think has been around since at least the 1960s and through whose ranks generations of Westover residents have passed. “I started coaching 13 years ago with my nephews,” says coach and organizer John Hunt. John was a Rocket himself—he started when he was 7 years old—who later played for Morgantown High School and in college at Fairmont State University. “When my nephews started playing, I wanted to make sure they knew what they were doing. I wanted to help out and give back to the community.” John’s son later joined the team and his love of football continued on. The Rockets’ A team, for fifth and sixth graders, and B team, for third and fourth graders, act as feeder teams to Westover’s nearby schools, Mylan Park Elementary, Skyview Elementary, and Westwood Middle. Four other teams around the county act similarly for other area schools: the Evansdale Tigers, the Marilla Mustangs, the Morgantown Falcons, and the Cheat Lake Chargers. “If any other team was full, they’d have the option to play for us, but we try to keep the feeder schools intact,”

John says. “The kids who come from Mylan Park and Skyview would eventually play for Westwood, and you want those kids to start playing together so, when they’re in middle school, they’ve already played together for four years.” By the time those kids enter Morgantown and University high schools, they’ve had seven years together. Anyone can play, boys and girls, ability to pay the team fees or not. The Rockets play about ten games a year, starting in August, plus a play-off system with a championship in November. Everyone involved except the officials who ref the games are volunteers who freely offer time, patience, and expertise. All three are needed in droves when you have a pack of 7-year-olds running from every direction at a football. “My favorite thing is to watch the first practice, when I’m thinking ‘Oh my gosh; this is such a mess,’ and then to look at the end of the year and say, ‘Wow. Look where these kids have come,’” John says. “From the little kid running around with no clue where he is, eyes as big as saucers, running the other way when someone comes at him, then to watch that same kid at the end of the season come up and make the tackle—that’s something special. That’s what I love about it.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION Westover Rockets and Morgantown’s other youth football teams facebook.com/mountainstateyouthfootball Morgantown Pony League morgantownbaseball.net Boys, girls, and co-ed youth basketball associations, boparc.org Youth hockey, morgantownhockey.com Youth and adult community soccer mountaineerunitedsoccerclub.com

MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

Star City Star City

Morgantown

Founded in 1907, Star City was named for the local Star Glass Company. Remnants of the town’s industrial heritage remain vital today through the industrial mainstays of Davis-Lynch Glass and City Neon as well as beautification projects near the riverfront that highlight Star City’s history. New businesses continue to pop up hear and there, and hopeful residents enjoy some of the Morgantown area’s most affordable housing with easy access to the river, the rail-trail, parks, the interstate, and WVU. “It’s a historic little place,” says Dominick Claudio, owner of Star City favorite Unique Consignment, adding that recent growth is exciting for lifelong residents like himself. “I’m happy to be at the forefront of what this will be. There are new minds and young blood coming to town.”

MORGANTOWN’S GATEWAY Star City, Westover, Granville, and Osage residents used a ferryboat to cross the Monongahela River until the 1950s when the first Star City Bridge was built. By the 1970s, when Interstate 79 reached Star City, the bridge had become a major thoroughfare welcoming visitors and residents alike into Star City and Morgantown. The original Star City Bridge was demolished in

2002 and the Edith Barill Bridge—though everyone still calls it the Star City Bridge— took its place. The new bridge is the busiest entry into town. More than 38,000 vehicles pass over the bridge on average every day, according to 2014 Department of Transportation counts. In contrast, about 20,000 pass daily over the Westover Bridge and the Sabraton and downtown exits of Interstate 68.

Schools

RAIL-TRAIL TRACTION

Tiny Star City enjoys a major attraction in its easy access to the rail-trail. A playground, a favorite local restaurant, and relatively ample parking make the 46

MORGANTOWN • APR/MAY 2016

Star City rail-trail access point a hotbed of activity in warm months. Grab a smoothie at Terra Café and relax on the newly covered deck for some good people-watching or gear up for a bike ride up the rail-trail.

CARLA WITT FORD; ELIZABETH ROTH

Suncrest Primary, North Elementary, Suncrest Middle, and Morgantown High

Suncrest BEFORE

Morgantown

It’s a broad name for a broader neighborhood. Like many places in Morgantown, “Suncrest” has, over the years, received a one-size-fitsall moniker, but the area that stretches from Krepps Park to the end of Collins Ferry Road and all the way east to the Suncrest Towne Centre is anything but homogeneous. At one point Suncrest was its own town. Before that, it was parcels of vast, rolling farmland. Its old farmhouses can still be seen scattered here and there, like the D.I.B. Anderson Farm home sitting snug between privacy bushes on Collins Ferry. Before it was farmland, Suncrest—particularly the area known as “The Flatts”—was a prehistoric lake. Now Suncrest is bursting at the seams: Suncrest Elementary School is busy building a new schoolhouse on Collins Ferry, something seems to pop up at the Suncrest Towne Centre every day, and new homes are spurting up among old. The area’s proximity to WVU’s medical campus, the Mylan campus, parks, shopping, restaurants, and more makes it a favorite for families and professionals alike.

Schools

Suncrest Primary, North Elementary, Suncrest Middle, and Morgantown High

COURTESY OFWILLIAMSON SHRIVER ARCHITECTS

Suncrest

AFTER

SCHOOL NEWS

As Morgantown continues to grow, schools are at the center of city officials’ plans. Monongalia County Schools petitioned the School Building Authority in December 2015 for $5.1 million to go to new construction in the county and walked away with $4.4 million intended particularly to renovate and build classrooms at Brookhaven Elementary School. “Student enrollment at Brookhaven and in the surrounding attendance areas is experiencing unprecedented growth that doesn’t show signs of slowing,” Superintendent Frank Devono said at the time. The county previously had been awarded money for the new Suncrest Elementary School building, which broke ground on Collins Ferry Road last spring to replace the old, though much beloved Suncrest Primary located on Junior Avenue. The new school, designed by Williamson Shriver Architects, is expected to open in winter 2016. “Depending on when the construction is substantially

complete, we will look at Thanksgiving break or winter break to give teachers the chance to make the transition,” says Mon County Schools spokesperson Judy Reckart. “There’s a lot of stuff in an elementary classroom.” As for the old school? “We will hang on to that property because it’s so well-situated and is a valuable community resource for the neighborhood,” Judy says. Though plans aren’t yet firm, Judy says the county’s increase in pre-school students may necessitate a pre-k center. “Historically we’ve worked very closely with the community. There were several meetings within the Suncrest community about the new school, and I’m sure community input will be solicited.” Williamson Shriver Architects is also responsible for the design of Eastwood Elementary School, which opened in 2013 and has been awarded LEED Gold Certification. LEED certification recognizes design, construction, and operation of high-environmental-performance buildings. Eastwood is one of only two schools in West Virginia to have been awarded the honor. MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

Brookhaven Morgantown

SCHOOLS

Brookhaven Elementary, South Middle, and Morgantown High

DAY TRIPPING

Just past Brookhaven sits one of the area’s best road trips: State Route 7, which winds up into Preston County’s highlands.

MORGANTOWN • APR/MAY 2016

MORGANTOWN’S NEW MOST POPULAR NEIGHBORHOOD? The neighborhoods abutting the length of Sabraton have lately enjoyed a period of growth. Surrounding the commercial stretch of grocery stores, banks, car dealers, music stores, and furniture and home stores—as well as a beloved local park with pools, tennis courts, a skate park, and access to the rail-trail—sit groupings of family-oriented neighborhoods. It’s that mix of services, space, and access to recreation that has new families turning to these neighborhoods to settle down, particularly in Brookhaven. “I’ve sold quite a few houses in the Brookhaven area and off Summer School Road,” says Lisa Ware, a real estate agent with KLM. “In the last three to five years I bet I’ve sold 50 to 60 houses in Brookhaven alone.” Lisa says she sees this growth as comparable to or even larger than activity in Morgantown’s triedand-true neighborhoods like Suncrest and South Park. “In Brookhaven you can get a brand-new home for somewhere

between $200,000 and $250,000. It’s very attractive to a lot of first time homebuyers.” Access to I-68 and I-79 doesn’t hurt, and the family-oriented atmosphere is attractive to many. “There are a lot of young families in these, and they all get together,” Lisa says. “In Morningside, on Halloween, they close off their streets and all the neighborhood kids trick-or-treat. They have a lot of yard sales and cookouts. It’s very close-knit.” Monongalia County Schools has taken notice, too. “Fifteen years ago, it was the Cheat area, and we’ve seen incredible expansion in the northern part of the county,” says Mon County Schools spokesperson Judy Reckart. “Now it seems developers in the last five years have discovered this part of the county.” As Mon County prepared its 2016 request for building funds from the SBA, officials drove around the county and found massive development ready or readying along Sabraton and into the county. This is part of the reason Brookhaven Elementary will receive the majority of SBA funds this year to expand classroom capacity. “This edge of the city and county is where the growth is right now,” Judy says. We can’t wait to see what services and amenities are on their way, too.

NIKKI BOWMAN

Brookhaven

Woodburn & Wiles Hill Highland Park

RICH IN CULTURE

tions of Mario’s Fishbowl and Towne Hill Tavern. Sitting high above the rest of Morgantown, Woodburn offers enviable views of town when fall foliage drops and the Deckers Creek ravine is revealed. Housing prices tend to be more affordable here than in South Park or Suncrest, yet residents enjoy easy access to shopping in Sabraton, the Mileground, along State Route 705, and even downtown.

HIGH IN SPIRITS

campus, residents are right in the center of game-day hubbub. The area enjoys an active neighborhood association, with longtime residents and newcomers attracted by university offerings, Easter egg hunts, cookouts, potlucks, neighborhood cleanups, and an ongoing schedule of events at the Wiles Hill Senior and Community Center—the former neighborhood elementary school.

Woodburn sits along Richwood Avenue up to Charles and Des Moines avenues, meaning the lower part of the neighborhood is prime student real estate while the upper sections house families, graduate students, and professionals. This neighborhood is one of Morgantown’s first and boasts the longstanding institu-

Wiles Hill

Woodburn Morgantown

Woodburn and Wiles Hill are distinct neighborhoods, but each offers close ties to the WVU community.

WOODBURN SCHOOLS

Eastwood Elementary, Suncrest and Mountaineer Middles, and Morgantown High

WILES HILL SCHOOLS

Suncrest Primary, North Elementary, Suncrest Middle, and Morgantown High

ELIZABETH ROTH; NIKKI BOWMAN

FUN FACT

An affordable housing study commissioned by Sunnyside Up found that the Woodburn neighborhood is the most centrally located neighborhood in town—with easy access to all parts of the city—with the most affordable housing.

Wiles Hill and Highland Park, not to be confused with Sunnyside, sit on the east side of University Avenue and along Willowdale Road and Stewart Street. This is another area with close ties to the university and, thanks to a prime location next to the WVU football stadium and the university’s medical

MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

Cheat Lake Cheat Lake

Welcome to the lap of luxury—and not necessarily the material kind, though Cheat Lake is known as one of Morgantown’s most affluent neighborhoods. Rather, we’re talking riches of the natural variety. Cheat Lake is where Morgantown residents go to escape the summer heat with a day on the lake or watch the Mountain State’s autumnal colors unfold at Coopers Rock State Forest. While away easy afternoons at Lakeview Golf Resort & Spa, or enjoy a stroll through the museum at the West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey in the old Mont Chateau lodge. While Cheat Lake is several miles from the shopping, dinning, and nightlife of Morgantown’s city-proper, residents find plenty to keep them occupied, and continued expansion in the Pierpont developments along I-68 is adding options closer to Cheat Lake.

If you’ve spent any time in Morgantown, especially in the summer months, you’re sure to have heard of the old state park lodge called Mont Chateau. It sits near the marinas on the lake and acts as a

landmark for young and old alike, offering swimming holes, beautiful views, and, now that the former state park is long gone, the West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey—including WVGES’s Museum of Geology and Natural History, complete with dinosaurs.

SCHOOLS

Cheat Lake Elementary, Mountaineer Middle, and University High

FUN FACT

Cheat Lake has three marinas for summertime fun: Edgewater Marina, Cheat Lake Marina, and Sunset Beach Marina.

MORGANTOWN • APR/MAY 2016

DINING IN

While we love the lakeside and near-lakeside eateries of Tropics Restaurant & Bar and the Whippoorwill Bar and Grille, if you’re hungry for a Cheat Lake tradition look no farther than Ruby and Ketchy’s Diner. Under second-generation ownership, with a history that harkens to the ’50s, this is where Cheat Lake locals and regular outdoorsmen come to fill up on a hearty breakfast. The fixings aren’t fancy, but at a diner what matters are the service and the food. Ruby and Ketchy’s has that in spades. 2232 Cheat Road, 304.594.2004

CARLA WITT FORD; WIKIMEDIA, BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY TICHNOR BROTHERS COLLECTION

a rg

MONT CHATEAU

Refresh Your Space These local businesses offer ideas to revamp and renovate your home. Written by Katie Griffith Photographed by Carla Witt Ford

hen spring’s thunderstorms roll in to wash way winter’s doldrums, we start looking for fresh ideas to spruce up living spaces. Sometimes a home craves a full remodel—tossing out the tired and worn and invigorating rooms with light, bright colors and open designs. And sometimes all it takes is a new rug, a splash of color on a throw pillow, and a few accessories to restore vibrancy to your home. Whatever your aesthetic designs, Morgantown’s boutiques and warehouses offer plenty of options from modern and industrial to rustic to traditional and everywhere in between.

Upgrade Your Knowledge $444,000,000,000

Pantone’s 2016 Picks Pantone offers its picks for the 2016 colors of the year, along with a few choice palettes to help you bring these shades into your home.

The amount homeowners are expected to spend nationwide on home improvement in 2016.

Upgrades that Pay on Resale attic insulation

130%

Serenity

Blooming Dahlia

entry door replacement

98%

wood deck addition

80%

Thyme

major kitchen remodel

64%

Transitional Design (n.)

a method of design that allows a space to easily switch from a traditional to modern aesthetic—and vice versa—with a few simple changes. Transitional design uses complementary elements of many styles to create a timeless finish. Sources Remodeling 2016 Cost vs. Value Report, South Atlantic region; Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University 52

MORGANTOWN • APR/MAY 2016

Rose Quartz For 2016 Pantone chose dual colors of the year, Serenity and Rose Quartz.

Cloud Dancer

Cream Gold

Antique Lamp Supply antiquelampsupply.com

A Lift of Light

Schoolhouse Electric & Supply Co. schoolhouseelectric.com

Lighting fixtures can be overlooked when homeowners remodel, but the right fixtures can create striking effects in any room. We love these looks built around Morgantown’s own Davis-Lynch Glass.

A Pop of Color Picking the art that adorns your walls is one of the most personal and fun parts of home design and décor. But one person’s Picasso is another person’s mess. Whether your budget calls for something mass-produced or individually commissioned, listen to your heart.

» Local and abstract Lauren Adams original watercolors laurenadamsart.com $55–$1,500

» Space-age color Visions of the Future prints by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, jpl.nasa.gov/visions-of-the-future/ free to download

» Mountain-made salvage Nathan Baker original sculptures nathanbakerart.com, contact for pricing MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

A wall of open windows floods the room with natural light, making it appear both bigger and brighter.

Deep drawers with organizers, instead of cabinet doors, surround this on-trend farmhouse sink with functionality.

A Light Touch

Hardwood Interiors used lots of light, neutral tones, natural finishes, and an open design to create one Hopecrest chefâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dream kitchen.

Cookbooks and antique cookery shouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be relegated to dusty cabinets. Open shelving allows your favorites to be displayed with easy access.

When Hardwood Interiors designers Michele Messenger and Nicole Hinkle stepped in to design Pam Grossâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new kitchen in Hopecrest, they started with a blank slate and a piece of antique trim as inspiration. Months later, the trio had come up with this open kitchen layout featuring traditional touches centered around a custom oven hood that proudly displays that original inspiration.

A great layout paired with innovative appliances creates a functional kitchen. Neutral tones and wellthought-out materials provide for a timeless design. interior designer

Nicole Hinkle

material options

colors

Honed Marble

Quartz

Michele and Pam chose the natural movement found in marble for a more traditional look, but the neutral palette and clean, honed finish have wide appeal.

Changing the countertops to concrete-looking quartz tops in neutral tones create a more contemporary feel in the same kitchen.

Quartzite Elegant as marble and tough as granite, quartzite is fast becoming a popular kitchen material for work surfaces.

Wood

Neutral Canvas

A wood island countertop would also change the look of this space from traditional to modern and offers the functionality of a built-in food prep space.

A neutral palette allows for pops of color in the open shelving. While white is always a popular choice in kitchen cabinetry, gray is a trending color. MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

Drapes should be measured carefully. Hanging them high above your windows can pull a whole room together elegantly. Canvases traditionally have been framed but more and more homeowners are going for a modern, unframed look.

A sofa in a neutral fabric allows style updates and color to come from easily changed pillows and art work.

Shorter end and coffee tables fit the lower sofa and chair arms.

Timeless Living Wells Home Furnishings offers a transitional living room that can be updated to fit a range of styles.

Timeless Traditional Throwback to traditional style with these intricate details.

Color Capture Colorblocking is trendy and easy to accomplish with just a few updates.

Sophisticated Styling Opt for something both modern and sophisticated with a few classic pieces.

We started with the sectionalâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;families start with seatingâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; and used drapes to add softness to the windows. Color comes out through the accessories, while mixed materials and metals add interest and depth to the room. interior designer

Caitlin Furbee

MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

The yellow orchid ties into the color scheme—come fall, yellow mums could be pulled in.

A traditional French bed is the centerpiece of the room. “Finishes, heights, size of the room dictate what you put together. The pieces may be heavy, but the colors are light. There isn’t a color scheme that won’t work with this frame,” says designer Ed Keepers.

Add fun tchotchkes for a bit of personality. See page 62 for DIY ideas.

Because its finish is similar to that of the bed, this mid-century modern nightstand works well as a contemporary accent piece.

A Traditional Twist This bedroom designed by Classic Furniture offers traditional taste with a contemporary twist—all held up by solid bones.

When you start with good bones, something substantial, the look can constantly be updated with inexpensive changes like bedding and art. interior designer

Ed Keepers

Fresh bedding patterns for 2016

Pretty Paisleys

Threshhold Suzani duvet, target.com

Masculine Stripes “Wallpaper is a quick way to reinvent the room with an accent wall,” Ed says. “Wallpaper sales have skyrocketed lately and, when properly installed, it’s easy to remove and replace.”

Lifehack

Is buying all new bedding every season costprohibitive? Don’t worry; it is for most of us. Go for a duvet cover and stuff that tired comforter or quilt into a fun new pattern for a fraction of the cost of a new bedding set.

Harlowe duvet ralphlauren.com

EuroSheets

Europeans have long gone without the top sheet between fitted sheets and duvets, simplifying morning routines and getting that bed made faster. Keep a second duvet cover on hand for laundry days.

Bold Prints

Poppy Botanical reversible duvet potterybarn.com MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

Dark, dramatic colors in dining rooms add elegance and formality. Choose a color that can accent connecting rooms—if you choose a dark green wall for the dining room, perhaps your living room throw pillows display a similar shade.

Flowers brighten any room and, for formal functions, silks offer what nature can’t: longevity. Keep your poppies perfect, your roses bright, and your orchids “alive.”

A sturdy, streamlined dining set like this one from Gat Creek sets the stage for a number of styles and trends.

Formal, Functional, Millennial Chuck’s Furniture displays modern hardwood furniture with a laid-back Appalachian formality.

Appalachian Hardwood, West Virginia-Made American-made furniture is one thing. How about West Virginia-made? The Gat Creek furniture manufacturer, founded by West Virginia native Gat Caperton and based in Berkeley Springs, offers several lines of furniture in a range of styles from traditional to contemporary—all handmade from Appalachian hardwood. We love the customizable options in everything from bedroom furniture to living room sets. But most exciting? The company offers a designyour-own table program. Choose everything from your tabletop and its edging to corners and leg styles. Extensions, hand-planing, and colors can also be added. Dozens of builders work on Gat Creek’s customer orders and sign each of their pieces. Gat Creek furniture can be found at Chuck’s Furniture store in Morgantown, winner of the 2016 Best of Morgantown award for best furniture store, or online at gatcreek.com.

Bring the Outdoors In Greenery and color add polish, depth, and warmth to any room. The benefits of a vase of fresh flowers or a potted houseplant should never be overlooked and, no matter the season, you can find something to bring a little bit of nature inside. » DIYers and top designers love the look of seasonal branches cut and arranged just so. In spring, snip a few twigs from your forsythia for a fresh burst of color.

GAT CREEK

» Head to your local florists for seasonal arrangements and single-type bouquets. » Potted plants act as living sculptures. Look for architectural arrangements like succulents or a softer look with flowing vines.

MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

Trendy DIY Décor

A Pop of Color Drop paint inside interesting bottles to create colorful statement pieces.

» What you need Bottles of your choice, paint in your favorite colors, wire cooling racks

Great home design doesn’t have to break the bank. Check out a few fun ideas inspired by A.C. Moore.

A Gilded Zoo Metallic spray paint turns children’s toys into gilded statuettes.

» What you need Animal figurines found at bargin and craft stores, spray paints of your choice, masking tape

Pattern a Pillow With a bit of stenciling, you can create something fun and new on tired old pillows or rugs. 62

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» What you need Fabric like burlap or linen, all-purpose or fabric paint in your favorite colors, stencils in graphic designs, masking tape, foam stippling brushes

Treasure Troves Nearby You don’t have to go far to find unique pieces that fit any budget.

Black Cat Emporium The Black Cat Emporium in Star City opened a year and a half ago and made a splash with its selection of reasonably priced antique furniture and salvage items like tin moldings, porch posts, and mantels. 3329 University Avenue, 304.841.1207 facebook.com/groups/terrysjunk

Unique Consignment Winner of the 2016 Best of Morgantown award for vintage furniture, Unique Consignment offers refurbished and custom-painted pieces like beds, buffet tables, nightstands, and kitchen tables, as well as smaller home accessories. 3438 University Avenue 304.598.5656, facebook.com/ uniqueconsignment3506

Habitat for Humanity ReStore Goldstone Antiquery & Oddities Find everything from antique oak doors and windows to surplus tiles, old lighting, furniture, and appliances at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore on Don Knotts Boulevard. Profits from the ReStore fund Habitat for Humanity projects around the county. 251 Don Knotts Boulevard 304.291.2991, moncountyhfh.org/restore

Look to the year-old Goldstone for antiques and salvage items like Victorian drawer handles, old lamps, hinges, doors, windows, reclaimed lumber, and barn boards. 1 Fairmor Drive Westover, 304.284.0649, facebook.com/ goldstoneantiquery

Retro-tique

Antiques Walk

Antiques and Uniques

Walk into this downtown Morgantown favorite and find all the knickknacks your heart could desire and then some. Retro-tique offers vintage vinyl, accessories, and those little pieces that make great statement décor items. 243 Walnut Street, 304.292.0950 facebook.com/retrotiqueboutique

We love the selection of antique Morgantown glass at Antiques Walk at the Seneca Center in Morgantown, not to mention the assorted furniture items like curio cabinets, bookcases, beds, and more. 709 Beechurst Avenue Suite 4, 304.296.8117 facebook.com/antiqueswalk

This indoor flea market offers dozens of vendors selling everything from collectibles to clothes to décor and antique furniture items. 1867 Mileground Road, 304.381.4678 facebook.com/antiquesuniqueswv

MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

WVU and the development community are catching up on student housing stock, arguably for the first time ever. The side benefit—or, if you’re a permanent resident, the point: Family-oriented neighborhoods are recovering. written by Pam Kasey

MORGANTOWN • APR/MAY 2016

COURTESY OF WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY

Sunnyside Up

organtown’s residential core is changing— fast and radically. If you’ve passed through Sunnyside over the past few years, you can’t have missed the demolitions, the bare swaths behind construction fences, the articulating cranes, and the glass-fronted, brick-faced high rises that have come of it all. This is what it looks like to catch up on student housing for the first time ever. All the construction may seem common and unrelated to newcomers—even for townies, the connections aren’t always apparent. But it’s actually a culmination of decades of effort. Sunnyside between Beechurst and University avenues is the core, but major effects ripple out from there.

Deviled We have to go back to remember a time when off-campus housing in Sunnyside was in good shape—way back. Two decades isn’t far enough. “It would have been about 1998 when I experienced offcampus housing for the first time,” says WVU alum and Third Ward City Councilman Wes Nugent. He lived in Sunnyside, then Wiles Hill. “At that time the housing stock was, in many instances, well beyond its usable lifespan.” Four decades isn’t far enough either. “I lived in the Spruce Street area in the early ’70s and it was a lot of family homes that had been converted to apartments,” says Mayor Marti Shamberger. She now represents her Fifth Ward neighborhood of Woodburn on council. “I think it was beginning to slide downhill,” she says, exercising some mayorly diplomacy. To find a time when off-campus housing was really satisfactory, we have to go back more than 50 years—and then we’d be talking about just a corner of it. “I rented a room right down on Willey Street, near the Book Exchange,” says former Councilman and Mayor Frank Scafella of boarding in a private home when he was a student in the early 1960s (see photograph, page 80). “I rented a bedroom and bath,” as did several other students, he recalls fondly. The homeowner-landlord washed their sheets and towels and provided Sunday dinner. Frank experienced the tail end of an idyllic era. Students had been integrated with families throughout Sunnyside, both as in-home boarders and as tenants in separate apartments, in a decades-old social order that helped keep the young adults in line and ensured stability and good property maintenance in neighborhoods. But that had gradually fallen apart as the university and student presence expanded into a city without zoning. “At some point along the way the rental owners saw, ‘Wait a minute—if we exclude that family from that house, look how many people we can put in it and charge whatever the market will bear,’” says Frank who, as executive director of the neighborhood renewal organization known as Sunnyside Up, has studied the history. Well-kept lawns with flowerbeds and gardens gave way to litter and disrepair, he has written, and little by little the neighborhood stores and community schools were lost. “So in 1959, when the city adopted its first zoning ordinance, Stewart Street was already designated a blighted area.”

From the WVU 1989-90 Undergraduate Catalog

Approximate number of students enrolled at WVU in Morgantown in 1989.

Number who lived in apartments, mobile homes, and private rooms. MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

That zoning ordinance actually ended up contributing to the creep of student rentals, undermining the single-family character of neighborhoods near Sunnyside and downtown— especially Wiles Hill, Woodburn, and Greenmont. “Aside from Suncrest, which was zoned R1 for single-family and no option for anything else, the other neighborhoods were zoned R2: residential duplex,” Frank explains. “So houses were bought and turned into duplexes, just with a ladder or stairway down the outside. I lived in Wiles Hill, and you never knew when you woke up tomorrow whether you were going to hear hammers banging away to transform a house into a duplex.” A zoning clause that allowed owners to seek permission for up to six units added to the rental pressure. And Sunnyside itself deteriorated further still, because there were no adults in charge at either the household or the city level. “No parking was provided, so people parked in yards. There was no maintenance on houses because there was no code enforcement— there was no code to enforce,” Frank says. “If a window was broken out, you put a piece of plywood over it. Gutters leaked and rotted away. Houses fell into terrible disrepair. That’s what led to the moniker ‘Morganhole.’”

Over Hard When Governor Gaston Caperton came to Morgantown in 1990 for a football game, Frank says, he ran into a huge bonfire in the 66

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middle of University Avenue. He was embarrassed by the students’ behavior and by the condition of the neighborhood adjacent to the state’s flagship university. The governor found $40,000 in grant money for Morgantown to create a plan to revitalize Sunnyside. Frank, elected in 1991 as the city council representative for Sunnyside’s Third Ward, worked with landowners to try to get a plan in place—without effect. “There were too many things working against it,” he says. “There was no reason for people to reinvest, because they were making a killing off those old houses. Why would you tear one down and build new? It was a very negative state of mind with respect to students and how they lived: blaming the students, not the landlords, not the city. So downhill it continued to go.” Council did manage in 1991 to create R1-A zoning, a singlefamily designation for smaller lot sizes that has ultimately been a powerful tool for reclaiming neighborhoods. More on that below. Shoddy practices had become entrenched, Frank learned. “You can’t just go in as a city and say, ‘This isn’t going to happen anymore.’ We tried to get parking off the sidewalks and we passed an ordinance. It was rejected by the circuit court because we did not give sufficient notice—it was considered ‘arbitrary and capricious.’” He and others got involved with the Board of Zoning Appeals and Planning Commission and started demanding that plans be submitted not on the backs of envelopes, but drawn to scale, and

FRANK SCAFELLA

University Place from the U Club construction site.

that repair work be done in a workmanlike manner. “To turn that around, to change all that as policy for the zoning department, is incredibly difficult,” Frank learned the hard way. “Not only because you can’t change policy overnight—you also have to grandfather stuff. So it takes forever. Even now we’re fighting areas that are not up to code. But it’s only fair because, if somebody has invested, you can’t just take it away because somebody else wants something different.” After learning by chance in 1998 about the Campus Partners nonprofit redevelopment partnership between Ohio State University and the city of Columbus—spearheaded by thenOSU President E. Gordon Gee, who had headed up WVU in the early 1980s—Frank, having become mayor, worked with then-WVU President David Hardesty to establish the WVU-Morgantown partnership Campus Neighborhoods Revitalization Corporation: Sunnyside Up.

Scrambling That city-nonprofit partnership has worked methodically over the past decade-plus to create the conditions for revitalization. But what most motivated the current spate of demolition and large-scale construction is the establishment in 2008 of a Tax Increment Financing district. In brief, TIF is a bootstrap method of redeveloping blight. Officials calculate the property taxes currently paid on a specifically

defined area targeted for redevelopment. They sell bonds to pay for infrastructure upgrades, then pay them off using the increased property tax receipts from the development that follows. Sunnyside Up administers the significant pot of TIF funds. “Initially it was $1.7 million, and that went into streetscaping on Grant Avenue,” Frank says. Fresh sidewalks right down the middle of Sunnyside, retaining wall improvements, two covered bus stops, and period streetlights greatly increased the walkability and appeal of that main neighborhood artery. Another $1.7 million went into redesign of the intersection at University Avenue and Third Street. And $2.8 million is now planned for further streetscaping. “We plan to upgrade the alleyways to accommodate parking and garbage storage and pickup and to make them pedestrian ways, with some amenities—benches, trees—that accommodate somebody who wants to go outside and read.” As hoped, the university and developers have responded with high-density development in line with the value today of Sunnyside’s university-adjacent location. Six-story Beech View Place, opened in 2013 with 420 beds plus parking and groundfloor retail, replaced lower-density uses of the land along Beechurst between Third and Fourth streets. Eight-story University Place, 940 beds plus parking and ground-floor retail, opened in 2014, replacing substandard housing on University Avenue near downtown. U Club Sunnyside will add another 530 MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

WVU Morgantown Enrollment and Morgantown Permanent Resident Population 30,000

22,500

15,000

7,500

Morgantown permanent resident population WVU student enrollment in Morgantown

MORGANTOWN • APR/MAY 2016

20 10

20 00

19 90

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau; WVU's West Virginia & Regional History Center

beds and parking on University in 2016 and 2017. That’s nearly 2,000 new beds in Sunnyside alone in the space of a few years, and doesn’t count thousands more in smaller buildings and in other neighborhoods near campus. “There’s been a lot of development in and around the downtown campus and even on the Evansdale campus, so there’s a lot more student housing now available within city limits,” says Ron Justice, state, corporate, and local relations specialist for the university, himself a former long-term mayor who knows this issue from multiple perspectives. He doesn’t outright agree that university and private student housing stock has “caught up,” but affirms the concept. “Quality is very, very important, and there are a lot more options today than students had even five years ago. In response to the term ‘caught up,’ I would say the bed-count overall in the city and in the county is sufficient.” Parents seem to be happy with the quality and safety of today’s options, he says, adding, “A lot of the local landlords, if they haven’t invested in new construction, they’ve reinvested in their own properties—so quality is going up overall.” Getting new rules in place can still be challenging, but it goes more smoothly these days—for example, the sorely needed imposition of blue curb parking in August 2015 to reserve on-street parking for residents with passes. “McLane Avenue in Sunnyside was parking on both sides, and every day 68

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from Third Street to Eighth Street you would see automobiles parked this way,” Frank says. “Sunnyside was a parking lot for people driving in from out of town, parking all day for free. Now those people are parking in the (University Place) parking garage.” Wes, on city council, felt the pushback. “Unregulated parking is a tough mentality to overcome, and it was a challenge getting blue curb parking implemented. But now residents can be assured that the garbage truck, the delivery truck, the ambulance, the fire truck can service the neighborhood. From everything I hear, people have come to see the benefits.”

Breaking a Few There will be some loss in all this. Sunnyside has a colorful history of immigrant workers and streetcar transportation and the manufacture of fine glassware. Few traces of that remain. For better or for worse, the Sunnyside of our future is in large part a modern, mixed-use, urban neighborhood laid down in big chunks. “Sunnyside had to go to medium or high density— it couldn’t continue to be what it was,” Frank says, when asked about historic preservation. “There had to be a mechanism in place to take down a lot of those old places that were just wrecks and build new.” And about those apartment units “in the county” that Ron, at the university, mentioned. Earlier this century, as

Timeline There was no reason for people to reinvest, because they were making a killing off those old houses. Why would you tear one down and build new? It was a very negative state of mind with respect to students and how they lived: blaming the students, not the landlords, not the city. So downhill it continued to go.” Frank Scafella, executive director, Campus

2002 Campus Neighborhoods Revitalization Corporation formed, known colloquially as Sunnyside Up 2004 Sunnyside Up Comprehensive Revitalization Plan 2008 Sunnyside TIF District formed 2009 WVU Honors Hall, 350 beds 2010 First TIF project 2013 Beech View Place opens, 420 beds plus parking 2014 University Place, 940 beds plus parking 2016 U Club Sunnyside, 534 beds plus parking -2017

Neighborhoods Revitalization Corporation

enrollment rose much faster than bed-count, most of the added housing for students was in private apartment complexes outside Morgantown city limits, many of them built by outof-state management companies. Thousands of beds became available in large developments off West Run road and, more recently, across the river in Granville. Just scroll through the Facebook history of one of those complexes to see the timelapse transition from a landlord’s market to a renter’s market: Spring in 2011, 2012, and 2013 was mainly about weekend parties and opening the pool, but by 2014 the season brought continual offers of gift cards, waived fees, and discounts on rent for lease renewals. It remains to be seen, as construction slows and enrollment continues to edge up—by a few hundred a year, according to Ron—which developments will fare well and which will suffer as student preferences play out. What is gained will be enjoyed all across residential Morgantown. The appealing new high-density, in-town residences are easing student demand for converted duplexes and the like, opening the opportunity for neighborhoods to reclaim their one-time owner-occupied stability. For the past decade, a program called Morgantown Homecoming has already been chipping away at this property by property: buying converted units that come on the market and rehabbing them back to single-family configuration, writing

that important 1991 R1-A zone category in as a deed restriction that keeps them owner-occupied in perpetuity, and returning them to the market. The program also fills in with new construction on vacant lots and assists with financing. “We’ve probably touched about 60 homes in the four neighborhoods we work in,” says John Martys, executive director of the Fairmont-Morgantown Housing Authority that runs Morgantown Homecoming. Of the program’s work so far in First Ward, Greenmont, Wiles Hill, and Woodburn, he counts Greenmont a particular success. “Some of those streets were down in the teens in terms of percent of owner-occupied homes. We haven’t gone back and looked at it but I can tell you for a fact it’s significantly higher today,” he says. “Some of the folks who purchased our houses were young, communityactive people who were able to revitalize the neighborhood association—a great side benefit of the program.” Affordable housing in tidy neighborhoods near workplaces makes Morgantown more livable for permanent residents. “People want walkable communities,” John says, referencing studies done in other university towns. “They want to be close to shopping and maybe a downtown. They want security, and they want some kind of community center or park or playground.” Wes agrees. “I went home at lunch today,” he said in February, “and I love being able to do that—see the family, close my eyes on the couch, or maybe just MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

MORGANTOWN • APR/MAY 2016

looking at more urban living. And here in Woodburn, we’re seeing more young families moving in.”

Incubating Exactly one dwelling in Sunnyside is owner-occupied today, as far as Frank is aware. It’s a home built by the owner’s father, an Italian glassworker who came to Morgantown in the 1920s. Renting students dominate: school-term occupants, mainly, with no longterm stake in the condition and future of the neighborhood. That overwhelming seasonal transiency leaves out the flower box tenders and holiday light hangers that give streets their homey charm: a diversity Sunnyside Up sought in its 2004 Comprehensive Revitalization Plan. “Students, university staff, young families, and young professionals can live in a neighborhood that offers a variety of quality housing products and commercial conveniences within walking distance to three campuses of West Virginia University,” the plan envisioned.

FRANK SCAFELLA

put in a load of laundry. That’s what people want.” And that’s what people are finally getting as a near-downtown lifestyle becomes increasingly available to families, professionals, and retirees again. “When we first started buying places a decade ago, we were competing with investment rates,” John says—not paying, say, the $80,000 a single-family home should have cost, but the $120,000 it was worth as multiple rental units. “I think that’s changing some. I’m not saying prices are coming down significantly,” he says, acknowledging the risks a down-trending market can pose for homeowners, “but I don’t see prices going up as quickly as they did.” Frank sees things changing in Wiles Hill. “We still have rental properties—they’re grandfathered—but there are a lot more singlefamily homes than there were. Last year three houses on my street went from rental to owner-occupancy.” Marti, the mayor, sees it in Woodburn, too. “I think students want to be closer to downtown—many don’t have cars, and they’re using transit and walking more,” she says. “They’re

FRANK SCAFELLA

Beloved pub Mutt’s Sunnyside (left) operated in a converted home typical of the neighborhood. The University Place Sheetz Grocery and Deli that replaced it trades history for curb appeal.

The organization still wants to address that. With years of learning under his belt, Frank has some new, more nuanced language for talking about this: not just “owner-occupied” but also “four-season”—a category that could include renters, but more settled renters, renters with buy-in. “We have an option on two acres between Fourth and Sixth streets along Beechurst,” he said in early March. “Essentially we’re trying to find a developer to come in and build four-season housing there. It’d be mixed-use, so there would be commercial with residential above it.” River views, proximity to campuses in both directions, and a location on a main transportation artery and the Caperton rail-trail and near a PRT stop might make it an appealing spot for active longer-term residents and families. But even with the current construction momentum, it seems like getting more committed residents back into Sunnyside is going to take more time. Interest in the site has been weak, Frank said later in the month. The power plant that looms over

it detracts from the appeal, and developers see that groundfloor retail is gaining traction only slowly in the neighborhood —maybe because of its intimate connection with walkability, bikability, and higher-spending residents, all of which are still works in progress. There may also be a taste among permanent residents for a return to the owner-occupied, several-unit rental pattern of decades ago, but in new construction. “I believe there’s a young crowd that would like to be an owner but perhaps also be a landlord, in R2, owner-occupied duplexes and even higher density than that,” Wes says. He references Pittsburgh brownstone neighborhoods. “You’re looking out of your dining room toward someone else’s kitchen, with the driveway separating you and a garage at the back of the lot. Those are homes that are two and in some instances three stories, the owners living there with tenants. It’s a model I’d like to see happen here, if the market would sustain it.” MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

OUT & ABOUT IN THE MOUNTAIN CITY

FEB 18 • MORGANTOWN BREWING COMPANY

The 2016 Best of Morgantown Awards Party

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The 2016 Best of Morgantown Awards Party was bigger than ever! More than 200 people showed up to celebrate the Best of Morgantown winners, everyone from awardees to the general public. In addition to food and drink provided by 2016 BOM winners like Black Bear Burritos, The Cupcakerie, Forks of Cheat Winery, Mountain State Brewing Company, Morgantown Brewing Company, and Pizza Al’s, attendees enjoyed a Gingham Photography photo booth and a silent auction stocked with items from many more BOM winners. The event raised $1,000 for Christian Help, the winner of the 2016 BOM Nonprofit/Charity category. 1 Emily Saunders represents Exotic Jungle at the 2016 BOM party. 2 Unique Consignment enjoys the Gingham Photography photo booth. 3 Anna Carrier and Janet Williams of The Cupcakerie proudly display their five-time BOM award. 4 Upstairs the Top ’Tender Contest got underway. 5 Many 2016 BOM winners provided silent auction items to benefit Christian Help. 6 Judges Kevin Connoley, Chef Marion Ohlinger, and Chef Chris McDonald judged whiskey drinks presented by competitor bartenders. 7 Representatives from Morgantown Brewing Company, Table 9, Sargasso, and Iron Horse showed up to compete in the first Top ’Tender contest. 8 Congrats to our 2016 Best of Morgantown winners!

JODI HOLLINGSHEAD; CARLA WITT FORD

OUT & ABOUT IN THE MOUNTAIN CITY

1 MAR 12 • WVU ERICKSON ALUMNI CENTER

WV Weddings Extravaganza In March the WVU Erickson Alumni Center welcomed WV Weddings magazine to host its WV Weddings Extravaganza. More than 150 brides and attendees showed up to enjoy brunch by some of West Virginia’s top wedding caterers, a presentation by Sam Sabora of TLC’s “Something Borrowed, Something New,” and a weddings expo filled with vendors displaying everything from top venues to proper place settings. Dozens of door prizes, like photography packages and honeymoon trips, were awarded to brides attending the event, and one lucky bride walked away with a free register in her choice of WV Weddings issues.

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1 Sam Sabora sticks around after his presentation to spend oneon-one time with brides. 2 The Erickson Alumni Center was packed with couples looking for wedding ideas. 3 The Vow offers dresses in all styles. 4 The Cupcakerie was on hand with delicious cupcakes. 5 Representatives from the Blennerhassett Hotel drove all the way from Parkersburg to show off their venue. 6 No weddings event is complete without impressive flower displays. 7 Bravo-Live DJ staff show off their music mixing skills to brides planning their weddings. 8 Free makeovers were offered across the event space.

CARLA WITT FORD

Your local guide to life, art, culture, & more APR/MAY 2016

April APRIL 9 West Virginia State Competition for National History Day WVU Downtown Campus, Sat., 8 a.m.–3 p.m. cdce.wvu.edu/national-history-day Students from middle schools and high schools across the state submit projects to compete in the West Virginia State Competition for National History Day in hopes of going on to the national competition in June. Quarter Auction Rexroad Auction House, 887 Rexroad Farm Sat., 1 p.m., 304.288.7079 Come with just a few quarters, leave with quality vendor items. Enjoy refreshments and baked goods while raising money for Relay for Life. Roller Vixens Hazel and J.W. Ruby Community Center 500 Mylan Park Lane, Sat., 7 p.m. morgantownrollervixens.com The all-female roller derby team, the Morgantown Roller Vixens, hosts the Roller Girls of Central Kentucky. $7

The Illusionists WVU Creative Arts Center, Wed., 5:30 p.m. & 8:30 p.m., 304.293.SHOW, events.wvu.edu Live from Broadway, this world-famous magic show is sure to blow minds and drop jaws with comedic tricks, mysterious manipulations, and shocking escape artists. $39 and up for regular admission, $23 for WVU students APRIL 16 Wild Warrior Challenge Mylan Park, 500 Mylan Park Lane, Sat., 8 a.m. 304.292.5081, wildwarriorschallenge.com If you’re looking for gauntlets of rope swings, mud bogs, and military crawls all inspired by National Guard training courses, this is your race. A portion of the proceeds will go to Chestnut Mountain Ranch and Operation Welcome Home. Register online or on the day of the race. $40 Handmade Market Terra Cafe, 425 Industrial Avenue Sat., 10 a.m.–3 p.m., montrails.org Join the Mon River Trails Conservancy on National Opening Day for Trails for a celebration and walk. Visit local artisans and shop local vendors in Terra Cafe and enjoy the start of spring with a two-mile walk on the rail-trail. Free

MORGANTOWN • APR/MAY 2016

KATIE GRIFFITH

APRIL 13

APRIL 16 Coopers Rock 50K and Half Marathon Hiked every trail of Coopers Rock yet? Try running along almost every scenic path the state forest has to offer, accompanied with changes in elevation, rocky sections of trail, and gorgeous spring views of the Cheat Canyon. Register online; proceeds benefit the Coopers Rock Foundation. Coopers Rock State Forest, 61 County Line Drive, Sat., 7 a.m., 304.594.1561, coopersrock.org

Chocolate Lovers’ Day Main Street Morgantown, 201 High Street Sat., 11 a.m.–3 p.m., 304.292.0168 downtownmorgantown.com As if you need another excuse to indulge. Sample chocolate creations throughout restaurants and businesses downtown and in the historic Wharf District during the 17th Annual Chocolate Lovers’ Day. $5

APRIL 17 Mountain Stage WVU Creative Arts Center, Sun., 7 p.m. 304.293.SHOW, mountainstage.org Larry Groce and the Mountain Stage crew are back for another exciting live West Virginia Public Broadcasting show. Acts include David Lindley, Judy Collins with Ari Hest, The Brothers Comatose, and more to be announced. $23 and up for general admission, $10 for WVU students

APRIL 25–28 Linda Hall’s

Turkish Bazaar

is back with more authentic pearls, gems, jewelry, scarves, and other collectibles from Turkey. $1 admission fee benefits Empty Bowls Monongalia.

CARLA WITT FORD

Euro-Suites Hotel Event Room 501 Chestnut Ridge Road Mon.–Wed., 11 a.m.–7 p.m. Thurs., 11 a.m.–5 p.m.

NEARBY Birding with Joey Herron Prickett’s Fort State Park, Route 3, Fairmont Sun., 2 p.m., 304.363.3030, prickettsfort.org As part of the Prickett’s Fort Lecture Series, West Virginia native and master bird-bander Joey Herron will lecture about the species of songbirds found in Marion County and surrounding areas. Wear comfortable shoes to go birding after the discussion. Free

304.284.0049, mtpocketstheatre.com Two one-act plays featuring outlandish stories—watch A Pair of Lunatics, a scene of two visitors to an insane asylum who each think the other is an inmate, and A Mad Breakfast, the tale of guests at a boarding house who show off their quirky hobbies for wealthy visitors. $7 and up APRIL 23

APRIL 19 Stepping Stones Art Festival 400 Mylan Park Lane, Tues. 9:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m., 304.983.STEP steppingstones.askwhymedia.com More than 700 children and students with disabilities from northern West Virginia and southern Pennsylvania will work with local artists to experience dance, music, crafts, and other arts. Stepping Stones is a nonprofit organization that provides recreational opportunities for people with disabilities in Morgantown. APRIL 22 WVU Relay for Life WVU Track, 1501 University Avenue, Fri. 6 p.m., 304.296.8155, relayforlife.org/wvuwv The American Cancer Society’s annual fundraiser gets teams of supporters and survivors walking on a track all night long to raise money for cancer research and care. Sign up online individually or with a team. APRIL 22–23, 28–30 A Night of Farce M.T. Pockets Theatre, 1390 1/2 University Avenue, Thurs.–Sat., 8 p.m.

Bites and Brews WV National Guard Readiness Center 90 Army Way, Sat., 5 p.m.–9 p.m. 304.292.4646, cdmwv.org This year the Children’s Discovery Museum of West Virginia will re-open as SPARK Imagination and Science Center, and it is celebrating with Bites and Brews. Vote on favorite samples from local food trucks and microbreweries, enjoy live music, and try to win raffle baskets. $30 for food only, $40 for food and beer Spring Meltdown Morgantown Brewing Company 1291 University Avenue, Sat., 304.292.3970 deckerscreek.org Friends of Deckers Creek hosts its 10th annual Spring Meltdown at Morgantown Brewing Company, featuring live music, live and silent auctions, and other festivities. All proceeds benefit Friends of Deckers Creek. APRIL 23 & 24 NEARBY Tea Social Prickett’s Fort State Park, Route 3, Fairmont Sat. & Sun., 304.363.3030, prickettsfort.org Make reservations for this limited-seating ladies’ social event at the Job Prickett House. Enjoy tea and refreshments at the historic site.

$4 and up. The tea is included in the price of admission, which varies based on age. APRIL 24 WVU Women’s Tennis: WVU vs. Texas Tech Mountaineer Tennis Courts, Monongahela Boulevard, Sun., 10 a.m. 1.800.WVU.GAME, wvugame.com Cheer on the senior Mountaineers in their final home match against Texas Tech University before they head to the Big 12 Championship. APRIL 28 Nearby Meadows Casino Day Trip The Meadows Casino, 210 Racetrack Road Washington, PA, Thurs., 9 a.m.–3 p.m. 304.296.7002, boparc.org Join friends on a day trip to The Meadows Casino in Washington, Pennsylvania, sponsored by the Morgantown Board of Park and Recreation Commissioners. Depart the Wiles Hill Community Building at 9 a.m. and return by 3 p.m. $15

APRIL 29, 30, MAY 1, 5, 6, 8 Walter Cronkite is Dead Monongalia Arts Center, 107 High Street Thurs.–Sun., 8 p.m., 304.292.3325 monartscenter.com The Monongalia Arts Center presents a touching play that follows a deeply revealing conversation between two politically polar women who are trapped in an airport together for the evening.

MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

COURTESY OF E. RAY GARTON

THROUGH APRIL 23 Walking With Dinosaurs The world-class exhibit that brought in over 12,000 visitors last year is back with the theme “Prehistoric Seas and Skies.” Check out a 65-footlong Mosasaur skeleton, a 10-foot wingspan Pterodactyl, and hundreds of other authentic and replica fossils from Jurassic times. Local paleontologist Ray Garton and associate curator Zack Heck are on hand every Sunday to answer questions about natural history and fossils. Free Harrison County Parks and Recreation Complex, 43 Recreation Drive, Clarksburg, Feb. 10–April 23, 304.423.7800, hcparks.org

APRIL 30 Container Gardening Workshop West Virginia Botanic Garden, Sat. 10 a.m.–1 p.m., wvbg.org Even brown thumbs can create showstoppers when Master Gardener Jan Mitchell demonstrates how to select, plant, and maintain a container garden. Materials provided. Register online by April 23. $35; $30 for members

May

to “live in full color.” General admission costs $47 and up; WVU students pay $33. MAY 6, 13, 20 Squeaky Sneakers Morgantown Ice Arena and Sports Complex 1001 Mississippi Street, Fri., 10 a.m., boparc.org Keep the kids active at various stations set up on the sports court, from building blocks to art activities. Children will spend the first 45 minutes interacting with the stations and the last 15 minutes in circle time with snacks and stories. $6

MAY 4

MAY 6 & 7

25th Annual Day of Caring 304.296.7525, unitedwaympc.org Spend the day volunteering at local service agencies across Morgantown in partnership with United Way of Monongalia and Preston Counties.

Appalachian Global Dinner Series: Big Mess o’ Chitlins Hill & Hollow, 709 Beechurst Avenue Fri. & Sat., 304.241.4551 Join Chef Marion Ohlinger for the May installment of his Appalachian Global Dinner Series, featuring traditional chitlin dishes from around the globe.

MAY 5 Blue Man Group WVU Creative Arts Center, Thurs., 7:30 p.m. 304.293.SHOW, events.wvu.edu Using percussion, dance lights, and theatrical acts, Blue Man Group dares audience members 78

MORGANTOWN • APR/MAY 2016

MAY 7 High Street Bazaar Main Street Morgantown, 201 High Street Sat., 10 a.m.–2 p.m., 304.292.0168

downtownmorgantown.com The High Street Bazaar opens again every Saturday, May through August. Visit the east side of High Street to browse art, crafts, and other goods made by local sellers, or sign up online to be a vendor. MAY 7 Cheat River Festival Cheat River, Albright, Sat., 11:30 a.m.–11:30 p.m. cheatfest.org The beloved annual Cheat Fest is back, rain or shine, for its 22nd year. Get there early for the Down River Race and a 5k footrace, or bring the kids later to hang out at the Kids’ Tent. Check out local artists throughout the day at the Art Market and eat a variety of food from local vendors. Music acts include The Josh Daniel/Mark Schimick Project, The Jakobs Ferry Stragglers, and more bluegrass bands. Benefits Friends of Cheat, a nonprofit organization promoting and preserving the Cheat River watershed. $5; free for children under 12 Irish Road Bowling Coopers Rock State Forest, 61 County Line Drive, Bruceton Mills, Sat., noon 304.698.9065, coopersrockstateforest.com The 300-plus-year tradition of Irish Road Bowling came to West Virginia in the 1990s and has

MAY 21 STIHL TIMBERSPORTS Professional Southern Qualifier Mylan Park, 500 Mylan Park Lane Sat., 11 a.m.–4 p.m. stihlusa.com/stihl-timbersports Calling all lumberjacks—check out the Professional Southern Qualifier of the STIHL TIMBERSPORTS competition. Athletes compete in traditional logging skills, including Hot Saw, Single Buck, and Standing Block Chop. Winners go on to the national championships in July.

COURTESY OF CARITAS HOUSE

MAY 27–30

APRIL 22 Take part in a dessert competition, beer and wine tasting, and raffle contests at the 20th Annual Sweets for the Sweet event, featuring desserts from local restaurants. All proceeds benefit Caritas House, a nonprofit that assists people in West Virginia with HIV/AIDS. $20 WVU Erickson Alumni Center, Fri., 7 p.m., 304.985.0021, caritashouse.com

been celebrated throughout the mountains ever since. Sponsored by the West Virginia Irish Road Bowling Association.

WVU’s annual campaign. Purchase the official bag for $20 and claim whatever you can fit in it. Early bird sale begins at 7 a.m. for $5, free general admission begins at 8:30 a.m.

MAY 10

Pruning Workshop A Morgantown residence, Sat., 9 a.m.–noon wvbg.org Learn to prune trees and shrubs from landscape architect George Longenecker. An equipment demonstration will be followed by a hands-on workshop. Register online by May 7. $15; $10 for members

WVU Baseball: WVU vs. Maryland Monongalia County Ballpark, Tues., 6:30 p.m. 1.800.WVU.GAME, wvugame.com The Mountaineers take on rival neighbors from the University of Maryland. $1–5 MAY 13–15 WVU Commencement WVU Coliseum and Creative Arts Center Fri.–Sun., various times 304.293.7132, graduation.wvu.edu Celebrate the WVU Class of 2016. Commencement ceremony locations and times depend on respective colleges. MAY 14 Blue and Gold Mine Sale Hazel and J.W. Ruby Community Center 500 Mylan Park Lane, Sat., 7 a.m.–noon 304.293.7916, bluegoldmine.wvu.edu One of the largest yard sales in North Central West Virginia, the Blue and Gold Mine Sale donates all proceeds to United Way as part of

Contra and Square Dance Marilla Park, Sat., 8 p.m. Morgantown Friends of Old-Time Music and Dance throws its monthly dance with musical entertainment by Bandy Roosters. Refreshments will be served. Beginners and singles welcome. $5 MAY 19 Parkway Drive Mainstage Morgantown, 444 Chestnut Street Thurs., 8 p.m., 304.291.5060 mainstagewv.tunestub.com The Australian metal rock band Parkway Drive will jam out at Mainstage Morgantown. The band has five albums, and the most recent, Ire, was the number one album on the Australian ARIA charts in October 2015. 18 and over. $25

NEARBY River City Festival of the Arts Janet and Imre Szilagyi Center for Performing and Visual Arts, Fri.–Mon., Rowlesburg rowlesburg.org The 9th Annual River City Festival of the Arts kicks off Memorial Day weekend in Rowlesburg. Featured acts include the 249th Army Band Jazz Combo, Leon Alexander’s historical portrayal of Benjamin Franklin, the Wheeling Symphony Quintet, and opera recitals by Cristina Nassif, Jamie Kotmair, and Thomas Nassif. Enjoy dinners, silent auctions, special art exhibits, high school plays, and the River City Festival Ball featuring The Classics.

MAY 30 NEARBY Memorial Day Prickett’s Fort State Park, 106 Overfort Lane Fairmont, Mon., noon, 304.363.3030 prickettsfort.org Pay tribute to service members at a solemn wreath-laying ceremony on Memorial Day. Regular admission applies; free to service members.

Upcoming JUNE 3 Relay for Life of Monongalia County Mylan Park, 500 Mylan Park Lane, Fri., 7 p.m. 304.296.8155, relayforlife.org/monwv Keep at least one member of your team walking on the track from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. the next morning to raise money for cancer research. The community-driven charity event supports the American Cancer Society. Register online. JUNE 11 Triple-S Harley Davidson Anniversary Party Triple S Harley Davidson, 7300 Willie G. Avenue, Sat., 2 p.m. 304.284.8244, triplesharley-davidson.com Celebrate 14 years of motorcycles with the region’s Harley Davidson retailer.

Send your events to place our calendar to morgantown@newsouthmediainc.com with the subject line “Calendar.”

MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

THEN & NOW

Charming homes graced Willey Street at University Avenue in the 1960s.

Today, the location is home to a WVU parking lot.

FOR MORE PHOTOS

of Morgantown’s past, check out wvhistoryonview.org

Student Housing When he was a WVU student in the early 1960s, Frank Scafella rented an upstairs room in a private home at Willey Street and University Avenue, across from White Hall, for $1 a day. “It was Mrs. Carter’s house,” he says of the third house from the right in this 1961 photograph. “Several other students lived there, too. She washed bedclothes and towels, and you got Sunday dinner with the family.” In those days, students mainly boarded with families or rented apartments in owner-occupied buildings, Scafella says—the first of WVU’s large Towers residential halls wouldn’t go up until 1965.

Scafella, as a homeowner, council member, mayor, and now executive director of Sunnyside Up, went on to have a strong hand in shaping the way the ever-growing student body is integrated into the city. Some historic character and charm have been lost, he acknowledges—Mrs. Carter’s beautiful, convenient neighborhood is now a WVU parking lot. But decades of planning and cooperation between the city, the university, and developers are gradually balancing the interests of permanent and short-term residents. Then & Now is published in partnership with WVU Libraries’ West Virginia & Regional History Center. wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu

written by pam kasey photographed by katie griffith

MORGANTOWN • APR/MAY 2016