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Candlelight Tours, Caroling Set at Cockayne Farmhouse

The Cockayne Farmstead in Glen Dale will welcome the Christmas season with caroling and candlelight Christmas tours on Dec. 17 at the historic site in Glen Dale.

The festivities will begin at 6 p.m., when all are invited to gather at the Visitor Center adjacent to the Farmstead, before embarking on a short trek through the neighborhood to sing traditional Christmas carols with guitar acommpaniment.

At 7 pm., there will be special Christmas-themed tours given through the farmhouse.

Guests are welcome to arrive until 9 p.m., as tours will be running approximately every 20 minutes, as needed.

Following their tours, visitors can go to the Visitors Center for traditional refreshments, including cookies and wassail

There will also be Christmas crafts for children.

The Cockayne Farmstead has been decorated to reflect three eras of Christmas traditions: the early Victorian era, 1850s; the Gilded Age of the 1890s; and the wartime celebrations of the early 1940s.

The beginning of Queen Victoria’s reign in England also marked the beginning of many popular Christmas traditions. For many Americans a Christmas tree was unheard of until an image of Queen Victoria and her German husband Prince Albert around their impressive family tree circulated widely to newspapers and magazines. Families in England and America picked up on the trend, adapting the splendor of the royal family’s Christmas festivities to their often less than royal incomers. The winter kitchen of the Cockayne Farmhouse will feature a traditional feather tree decorated with homemade ornaments and pine garlands accented with fruits, nuts and berries which in turn will bring to life the celebration of Christmas as it may have looked during the house’s first years.

By the end of Queen Victoria’s reign, and the end of the 19th century, the simplicity of the 1850s had given way to the clutttered extravagance more commonly associated with the Victorian period, and Christmas decorations followed suit. Just like many Victorian sitting rooms, the north parlor of the Cockayne house will be bursting with greenery and bedecked with ribbons, providing an impressive display for anyone visiting the prosperous Cockayne family during the holiday season. A Victorian Father Christmas will also make an appearance to tell about Victorian Christmas traditions.

To reflect the long history of the Cockayne House and family, the south parlor will be decorated in the style of a time almost half a century later. Meant to capture a moment in time on Christmas Eve, 1943, the south parlor will feature decorations, artifacts, and sounds that convey the slightly more somber yet hopeful celebration of Christmas that occurred during World War II.

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In the past couple of weeks, county Commissioner-elect Mike Ferro has been sworn in and he has also attended a statewide training center for new office holders.

As to the duties of county commissioners, key responsibilities include:

∫ Oversight of their county tax dollars. State law requires county commissioners to establish an annual budget and to set the annual levy rate for property taxes.

∫ Providing and maintaining a suitable courthouse at the county seat. County commissioners are responsible for keeping the courthouse complex in good working order.

∫ Funding the offices of elected officials. State law requires that county commissioners fund the operations of the following elected officials: prosecuting attorney, county clerk, county circuit clerk, sheriff and county assessor.

∫ Appoint members to various local boards, authorities and public service districts.

∫ Supporting community services, which includes the county health department, fire and ambulance authorities, county libraries, E911 centers, solid waste management, airport, and EMS.

∫ Hearing concerns about individual property values as taxpayers can appeal their property tax value to the County Commission. This is undertaken by sitting as the Board of Review and Equalization.

∫ Supervising the election process and certifying election results. County commissioners approve all poll workers, provide funding for elections and review election results to verify voting totals.

∫ Provide funding operations maintenance of the regional jail.

∫ Work to bring economic development to their county, partnering with local and state agencies to make their regions attractive.

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Seven John Marshall High School Music Department groups will be participating in a combined Christmas concert to take place at 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 13 in the JMHS Center for the Performing Arts. The event’s title is, “Monarch Tidings.”

The one-night event will feature selections from a combination of ensembles including the Concert Band, Steel Band, Concert Choir, Monarch Choir, Chamber Orchestra, String Orchestra and Symphony Orchestra.

WJMH Media students JoJo Brosky and Logan Riggenbach will host the show. Festive tunes such as “Christmas Vacation,” and “Skating,” along with well-known favorites such as “Happy Xmas (War is Over)”, Irving Berlin’s “Christmas,” “Christmas Waltz,” and “My Favorite Things” will deck the halls of the CPA with Christmas cheer.

The WJMH Media will record the concert, with the production to be shown in its entirely on WLU-TV, West Liberty University’s television station on Concast Xfinity channel 14, around Christmastime.

The public is invited to the concert, to which there will be an admission fee which will be charged at the door.

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The Marshall County commissioners were presented with a handout at Tuesday’s meeting which explained work that had been completed at the Strand Theatre in Moundsville with funds given to the Strand Theatre Preservation Society by the commissioners.

In February 2017, the commissioners donated $10,000 toward repairs of an area under the theater’s stage.

STPS member Joanie Palmer informed the commissioners that restrooms and dressing rooms and other improvements were undertaken as the result of the money from the county.

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A check in the amount of $2,000 was presented this week by the Marshall County County Chamber of Commerce to the Marshall County Animal Shelter and the Tiffany Dlesk Spay and Neuter Clinic. Chamber Tree Gala chair Leighann Scherich and chamber Executive Director Scott Reager made the presentation to MCAS Director Lauren Cook and clinic Director Denise Nally.

While the mission of the animal shelter is to provide the nonlethal solution to the homeless, abandoned, and feral animal populations so that euthanasia is no longer an acceptable means of population control, the clinic is designed to bring low cost services to pet and homes in need. The clinic services the tri-state area, including (but not limited to) Marshall, Ohio, Wetzel and Belmont counties.

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Tours of the former West Virginia Penitentiary for the year will conclude next Sunday, and resume on April 1.

A section of the former institution will be open during the next 3 1/2 months for the “Escape from the Pen” activity. Scheduling of this event, which will be held on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, will be by reservations only. Moundsville Economic Development Council (MEDC) Executive Director Suzanne Park said that planning for 2019 will be taking place during the next few months.

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The Marshall County Chamber of Commerce has arranged a meeting for Thursday to which representatives of the Greater Moundsville Convention and Visitors Bureau and along with persons from Grand Vue Park, the Moundsville Economic Development Council, the Palace of Gold, Grave Creek Mound, the Cockayne Farmstead, the Fostoria Museum and others have been invited.

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The Marshall County Family Resource Network will hold its next general membership meeting at 11 a.m. on Jan. 8, in the meeting room at the Sleep Inn and Suites located at 8 Wal-Mart Drive in Moundsville.

The meeting is a way to share information and to learn about activities and programs going on in the community, and each member will have an opportunity to briefly discuss their organization.

Those attending can distribute their business cards and any materials they would like to distribute to the group.

Those planning to attend are to call 304-845-3300 or email tomarshallcounty frn@comcast.net

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The Moundsville Lions Club will be holding a Christmas party on Dec. 18 in conjunction with the weekly meeting.

Members of the former Washington Lands Lions Club have been invited to the event which will begin at 11:30 a.m.

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Last Sunday’s Moundsville Opus Music Club Christmas Cantata held at the First Christian Church attracted a full house.

Twenty-three Opus Club singers, nine Gentlemen singers and the Sherrard Middle School Choir participated.

Reva Icard conducted the program with Michael Murphy as accompanist. Murphy was one of the soloist, along with Gabe Collins, Lanette Rodgers, Ed Grose, Dalena Riggs and Alex Salvatori. Grose, Bob Wheat, Harley Gatts and Jerry Moore comprised a quartet.

Donations totalling $1,500 were received which in turn will enable the Opus Club to provide three scholarships, $500 each, to youths who are music majors in college.

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