Wheeling Park Provides Green Backdrop for Return of Wheeling Arts Festival
Shelley Hanson Trending
WHEELING -- Lovers of art, music, food and more visited Wheeling Park on Saturday during the Wheeling Arts Fest.
The event, organized by the Wheeling Arts and Cultural Commission, made its triumphant return after a five-year hiatus.
The festival had been held in downtown Wheeling in the past, but moved to Wheeling Park this year because of the ongoing work related to the Downtown Streetscape Project. But the change in venue this year didn't appear to stop people from attending, as the festival was busy with patrons when it opened at 11 a.m.
One of the artists, Zach Carroll of Wellsburg, was busy selling his tie-dyed T-shirts under his tent. He said he learned about the festival from friends and decided to give it a try.
"I have a couple friends who are also vendors here - they told me a lot about it. I love the Wheeling area and I'm always looking for new events to do so I figured I'd give it a shot," Carroll said.
Carroll said he started hand-tying and dyeing his own shirts in high school, but did not turn it into a business -- named Time-to-Dye -- until during the COVID pandemic.
"I started my business in 2021. I do the dye out of my home. I hand tie and dye all of my shirts. I do fabric items, bucket hats, tapestries and bags as well," he said.
Artist Amanda Carney of Wheeling said she loves selling her artwork during festivals.
"I was really excited this came back for Wheeling," she said. "We've got a really strong creative community here and it's really great to see everybody out walking around. I'm friends with a lot of the artists here so it's a great positive thing."
Carney described her own art as "colorful, but weird."
"It's not the standard sort of landscapes that you would see around usually," she said. "I definitely just draw whatever I'm feeling. A lot of them are kind of dark, but also bright, too.
"It's kind of complicated. I just do whatever feels right at the time."