It was disappointing to hear the news last week that, after 44 years, the Viennese Ball would be ending. It had been a wonderful feature of Wheeling social life for so long.

Yet, given the reasons, it’s understandable. The ball, a fundraiser for the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra, had just become to expensive to put on and still serve its mission of supporting the WSO.

“After last year, we knew things either had to change or we couldn’t go forward,” Ball Committee Chair Paula McClure said. “And it’s the rising cost of just about everything — whether it’s flowers or whether it’s the venues or whether it’s candles.

“And to go forward, to be fiscally responsible and successful and leaving it at the same level where we were, we just couldn’t do it,” she added.

Those across-the-board rising costs have been a hurdle for so many events like the Viennese Ball recently. Hopefully, they don’t lead to those other events ending.

And, hopefully, the ball committee can find other ways to support the WSO. In the meantime, let’s remember fondly the glamour and beauty of the ball, a fantastic part of Wheeling that is gone too soon.