Enjoying colorful snow cones on a hot Saturday afternoon at "Come Hell And High Water" are, from left, Andrew Keirs, Ella Furman and Avery Furman.

WHEELING – Members of the Triadelphia and Valley Grove communities have kept a constant focus on flood recovery since mid-June of this year, but on Saturday, everyone came together to set worries aside and simply enjoy the day.

Scores of volunteers and a number of sponsors helped organize “Come Hell and High Water – Giving Help Beyond The Emergency” on Saturday. The event took place at two different locations – a family friendly daytime extravaganza at the Triadelphia United Methodist Church, followed by an adult gathering at B&B Sports Bar in Triadelphia.

Saturday’s event kicked off by volunteers gathering together for a prayer offered by Pastor Mike Palmer of Triadelphia United Methodist Church, which has remained on the frontline of the recovery efforts since the June 14 flood disaster ravaged the neighborhoods along Little Wheeling Creek.

Chef Matt Welsch of Vagabond Kitchen and CPA Jeff Yourkovich of Yourkovich & Associates helped organize the special event.

“Originally I just wanted to feed people, but Jeff and I combined forces, we got all of these other great people to come together, and this is a true community effort,” said Welsch. “It’s a true convergence of a ton of different people who have brought all of what they’re good at together to make this amazing thing happen.”

The gathering featured inflatables for children, a dunk tank, music, free event T-shirts, a smorgasbord of free food, school supplies for students, and an array of items collected as donations for giveaways to those on hand. Gift cards and gift baskets were available for families affected by the disastrous June 14 flood.

“The main purpose is to bring the community together,” Yourkovich said. “It’s free to the community – to the affected flood victims and families and residents of these communities of Triadelphia and Valley Grove. It’s just a chance for those people to just enjoy themselves all day long and leave everything else behind today – leave their worries about building their homes, their finances and all that other stuff behind.”

While the festivities were designed to put worries about flood recovery efforts on hold Saturday, the event offered opportunities to bring help for those who continue to be in need.

Kim Fuller, public information officer for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, was on hand to help people in need of recovery assistance, as the flood was declared a federal disaster last month.

“We’re 30 days from the application due date, which is Sept. 22,” Fuller said. “But between now and then, FEMA and the Small Business Administration are going to be going to community events like this all across the county so we can see people face-to-face in case they have questions about their status, their application, if they’re somewhere in the process or if they haven’t even applied yet, we can do it right there on the spot.”

Monica Myles, public affairs specialist with the U.S. Small Business Administration, was also on hand during the event Saturday. She said the SBA’s deadline is the same as FEMA’s deadline next month. That is with the exception of the SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan program for businesses and nonprofits, which continues through April 22.

“We’re hopeful that people who have still not fully recovered from the disaster – if they need some additional funds and their insurance or grant from FEMA is not enough, they can come to the U.S. Small Business Administration for low-interest rate disaster loans,” Myles said.

As recovery efforts are expected to continue for the foreseeable future as impacted residents rebuild, those on hand during Saturday’s “Come Hell and High Water” event got a chance to enjoy a worry-free summer day for a change.

“It’s very nice,” said Darlene Philabaum of Valley Grove. “It’s much bigger than I thought it would be. I think I expected it to be a fundraiser, not just like an event for the community. It’s really cool.”

Organizers described the gather as being like “a community reunion.” Even those from neighboring communities who were not affected by the flood were welcome to join in the fun on Saturday, and while the event was not organized as a fundraiser, donations were collected from visitors wishing to help out.

“We’re going to put it all back into the community,” Yourkovich said.

It was more of a “fun-raiser” than it was a fundraiser, the volunteers all agreed.

“Let’s come together and feel good,” Welsch said. “I just wanted folks to have a chance to turn the page, get a chance to create some good memories and hopefully supplant some of the negative ones that we’ve had through this tragic flooding.

“We live there together, we’re working together and we’re coming together. I hope that’s a message that we can carry on long beyond this event. There’s nothing more West Virginia than helping out your neighbors.”