On Friday, officials from Panhandle Cleaning and Restoration held a kickoff for the season near Heritage Port in Wheeling outside of WesBanco Area, where the first batch of the Ohio Valley Summer Events Guide 2023 was distributed. These complementary guides provide a comprehensive schedule of community-sponsored concerts and other events at sites all across the area that are scheduled to take place from May through the fall, with some dates listed as late as October for outdoor festivities.

“They’re all free summer concerts, with the exception of the city of Wheeling’s waterfront events,” said Bob Heldtreth, vice president of marketing at Panhandle Cleaning and Restoration. “It’s all in there. It’s a comprehensive guide. If it’s a Tuesday night, and you want to find some free entertainment, it’s in the guide. You might have to go to Steubenville, you might have to go to Weirton or you might have to come to Wheeling.”

Chances are there will be something happening on any given day of the week somewhere in the Ohio Valley, and that’s where the Summer Events Guide maps out all of the free events – from the top of the Northern Panhandle all the way down the river to Marshall County and more than a dozen locations in between.

“We just have all of the municipalities send the schedules in, and that goes to Wheelhouse Creative – they’re the ones who put the guides together,” Heldreth explained. “Panhandle pays to have it printed, we go pick it up at the printer and distribute it.”

Most of the entries in the guide are free live music events held in the evening throughout the late spring, summer and early fall months. The city of Wheeling’s monthly free movie nights as well as the many festivals and special events held at Heritage Port are also listed.

Panhandle has been providing the annual summer guide for almost a decade, to the point where many people eagerly await its arrival.

“When it comes out, it’s like the unofficial kickoff to summer,” Heldreth said. “It’s available physically at any visitor’s center in the valley — it’s in brochure racks at all of the rest areas and CVBs (convention and visitors bureaus) — and you can get it online. On Panhandle’s website, you can download a copy — at panhandlecr.com. But we print 50,000 of them.”

The Ohio Valley Summer Events Guide was the brainchild of late community leader and former Ogden Newspapers Race Director Robert “Scat” Scatterday, Heldreth noted.

“When we started this, it was Scat’s idea to put all of the free concerts into one guide,” Heldreth said. “Scat has since passed, but we’ve carried on the idea that he had, and it’s really been a great thing. People look forward to getting the guide. They call as early as the beginning of the year looking for it.”

The format of the guide was also Scat’s idea — with events listed from those in the northernmost communities to those in the southernmost communities, which makes them very user-friendly for those seeking area entertainment.

“It’s a great guide for folks who want to get out and enjoy some entertainment for free,” Heldreth said, noting that the guide helps people to find some new opportunities to check out events in other communities in the Ohio Valley that they may have never considered.

“It’s a good way to bring new people to the different municipalities’ concert series,” he said. “I think that’s what it’s all about — letting people know that there’s a lot going on in the valley, and it’s free, so people can just get out and enjoy a night out.”

The popular events guide is a way for Panhandle Cleaning and Restoration to give back to the community, Heldreth noted.

“It’s a great opportunity for us to thank the valley for taking care of us, and we’re going to take care of them with this guide and provide a little direction on where you might want to go for some summer concerts,” he said.