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Earth Day Celebrated in Wheeling

By SHELLEY HANSON 3 min read

WHEELING - Earth Day activities kicked off Friday in Wheeling with community members picking up trash in the East Wheeling, the downtown and Heritage Port areas.

Friday's cleanup was the first part of a two-part Earth Day celebration. A free community block party is slated to be held from 1-8 p.m. today on the third floor of the Wheeling Artisan Center. From 1-6 p.m. children can visit with Your Friendly Valley-Wide Spider-Man, the Valley Avengers and Enchanted Valley Princesses.

There will also be games, exhibitors and vendors, said Emily Doyle, spokeswoman for the Ohio County Solid Waste Authority. Live music is planned from 1-8 p.m. and will include The Hooch starting at 1 p.m.; 2 p.m. Steel Cassa; 4 p.m. Mr. Fancy Pants; and at 6 p.m. Gypsy Cowboys.

Doyle noted a River Star Watch is still planned to be held from 8-10 p.m. at Heritage Port.

The entire event was originally slated to be held at Heritage Port, but because of a rainy forecast was moved to the Artisan Center, she added.

Several groups came together Friday for the trash cleanup including the Ohio County Solid Waste Authority, the city of Wheeling, Grow Ohio Valley, Volunteer Wheeling, Ohio Valley Street Moms and students from Wheeling Central Catholic High School.

"We're trying to encourage cleaning up the neighborhoods we love," Doyle said, adding volunteers were given trash bags, containers, gloves and pickers to use.

"Each group staked out which streets they wanted to work on," Doyle added.

After their hard work the volunteers were treated to the So Nuts 4 Donuts truck, fruit and drinks.

"Last year we picked up about six pickup truck loads of trash. That included some dead couches that were abandoned, that included furniture. There were a lot of abandoned things on the side of the road," she said. "Everybody worked really hard."

Doyle said she was excited that Wheeling Central students were participating, too.

Kristy Riedel, Wheeling Central's campus minister, was leading a group of students in the East Wheeling area to look for and clean up trash.

"Central likes to give back to the community. We have a service requirement for all of our students, and this is just a great opportunity as we care for our Earth. That's part of our mission as Catholics and as Christians to care for the Earth," Riedel said.

"This is a great way for our students to give back to the community and to follow our mission and our values."

Rebecca Friend, executive director of the Ohio County Solid Waste Authority, said it is important for the authority to get involved with such events.

"It raises awareness of environmental issues that are happening here locally," she said. "It puts together a community network of collaboration and taking pride in our local community. There's a lot of stuff we can do locally to support each other.

Friend is looking forward to today's Earth Day Block Party and invites people to check out the festivities.

"We're really excited for everyone to come out. It's going to be a really good time, just a fun family time for everybody," she said.

So Nuts 4 Donuts owner Jake Nelson added that he enjoys community events that involve bettering the community such as the cleanup and Earth Day.

Some of the event sponsors include Republic Services, Kozicki Hughes Tickerhoof certified public accountants, Liberty Distributors and Visit Wheeling.

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