State Fair of West Virginia Announces 2015 Scholarship Recipients
LEWISBURG, WV (03/23/2015)(readMedia)– The State Fair of West Virginia is pleased to announce the awarding of five (5), $1,000 four-year scholarships to youth who have participated in the State Fair, excelled academically and demonstrated a financial need.
The 2015 award recipients and their hometowns:
Zachery Shumaker, Sweet Springs, WV – (Recipient of the fourth annual Gus R. Douglass Scholarship)
Joshua Dransfield, Gap Mills, WV
Jennifer Friend, Exchange, WV
Shane Christopher, Albright, WV
Lauren Perkins, Frankford, WV
This scholarship is funded through the State Fair Endowment, which was created in 2006 to ensure the long-term support of three key areas; Scholarships Career Advancement Initiatives, Youth Educational Enrichment Programs and Agricultural Competitive Exhibit Premiums.
Scholarships will be awarded during the 2015 State Fair.
The 2015 State Fair themed “It Feels Like Fun. It Feels Like Fair”, is a 10-day Fair scheduled August 14-23, 2015. The State Fair of West Virginia, with a $13.8 million dollar economic impact on the state of West Virginia, is a 501 © 3 non-profit corporation committed to the traditions of agriculture, family entertainment, and education. For more information, please visit www.statefairofwv.com, or follow fair events on Facebook and Twitter.
KELLY TUCKWILLER COLLINS NAMED CEO OF STATE FAIR OF WEST VIRGINIA
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The Board of Directors of the State Fair of West Virginia, has announced the appointment of Kelly Tuckwiller Collins to the position of CEO.
LEWISBURG, WV (03/09/2015)(readMedia)– W. Jerry Cook, Chair of the Board of Directors of the State Fair of West Virginia, has announced the appointment of Kelly Tuckwiller Collins to the position of CEO, effective immediately. In making the announcement, Cook stated Collins was the unanimous choice of the Board after an extensive nationwide search and noted “Kelly’s diverse skill sets, previous experience and dynamic personality make her the ideal choice to lead the State Fair organization.”
Collins was reared in Greenbrier County, earned a Bachelor of Science in Journalism and a Master of Science in Integrated Marketing Communications from West Virginia University. She joined the staff of the State Fair in 2012 as Agricultural Competitions Manager and was named Operations Manager in 2014. She also held the position of Public Relations Manager for WELD in Oak Hill, West Virginia. She served as a Graduate Assistant with the West Virginia University Sports Communications Office and was an intern with the New York Jets.
A graduate of the International Association of Fairs and Events Institute of Fair Management, she is a member of the IAFE Agriculture Committee and is Co-Chair of the Zone II Wine and Dine Committee. Other board directorships include the West Virginia Association of Fairs and Festivals and the Greenbrier County Youth Camp.
Collins and her husband Zack were married in 2014. They reside in Lewisburg.
The 2015 State Fair themed “It Feels Like Fun. It Feels Like Fair”, is a 10-day Fair scheduled August 14-23, 2015. The State Fair of West Virginia, with a $13.8 million dollar economic impact on the state of West Virginia, is a 501 © 3 non-profit corporation committed to the traditions of agriculture, family entertainment, and education. For more information, please visit www.statefairofwv.com, or follow fair events on Facebook and Twitter.
3 Doors Down to Play the State Fair of West Virginia
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3 Doors Down is set to perform 8/20/15 at the State Fair of WV.
LEWISBURG, WV (02/09/2015)(readMedia)– State Fair officials have announced that 3 Doors Down is set to perform at the 91st Annual State Fair of West Virginia on Thursday, August 20, 2015 at 8 pm.
Tickets for this show will go on sale Friday, February 13, 2015 at 10 am.
“3 Doors Down is a great addition to our 2015 Concert Series and tickets will be on sale just in time for a Valentine’s Day gift,” State Fair Operations Manager Kelly Collins stated. “We are excited for this upcoming year and cannot wait to make more announcements in the near future!”
Since forming in 1995, Mississippi rock quintet 3 Doors Down has sold more than 16 million albums worldwide, garnered three Grammy nominations, two American Music Awards, and five BMI Pop Awards for songwriting, including BMI’s coveted “Songwriter of the Year” award.
The band’s debut album, 2000’s The Better Life, which is now certified six times platinum, featured the smash hit “Kryptonite.” Their sophomore album, 2002’s Away from the Sun, saw similar success with its radio mainstays “When I’m Gone” and “Here Without You.” Their subsequent efforts 2005’s platinum certified Seventeen Days and 2008’s 3 Doors Down debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 200 Chart. In 2012, 3 Doors Down released The Greatest Hits, a collection of nine #1 hits and three new songs, returning to the Top 5 at radio with “One Light.”
The band will begin recording their sixth studio album in early 2015.
Ticket prices and details on how to order can be found at www.statefairofwv.com. Tickets will only be available via Etix at www.statefairofwv.com or by calling 1-800-514-ETIX (3849) Monday through Friday 9 am – 6 pm or Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets will not be sold at the State Fair Box Office.
The 2015 State Fair themed “It Feels Like Fun. It Feels Like Fair”, is a 10-day Fair scheduled August 14-23, 2015. The State Fair of West Virginia, with a $13.8 million dollar economic impact on the state of West Virginia, is a 501 © 3 non-profit corporation committed to the traditions of agriculture, family entertainment, and education. For more information, please visit www.statefairofwv.com, or follow fair events on Facebook and Twitter.
Alabama to Headline 2015 State Fair of West Virginia Concert Series
LEWISBURG, WV (12/01/2014)(readMedia)– State Fair officials have announced that Alabama will kick off the 91st Annual State Fair of West Virginia concert series on Friday, August 14, 2015 at 8 pm.
Tickets for this show will go on sale Friday, December 5, 2014 at 10 am.
“We are thrilled to have country music legends Alabama as the opening act for the 2015 State Fair of West Virginia,” State Fair Operations Manager Kelly Collins stated. “Tickets for this show are going on sale just in time for Christmas making it a great present for loved ones. So far the upcoming Fair is shaping up to be great one and we cannot wait to make more announcements in the New Year.”
It’s been 40 years since a trio of young cousins left Fort Payne, Alabama, to spend the summer playing in a Myrtle Beach, South Carolina bar called The Bowery. It took Randy Owen, Teddy Gentry and Jeff Cook six long years of tip jars and word of mouth to earn the major label deal they’d been dreaming of, but then seemingly no time at all to change the face of country music.
ALABAMA is the band that changed everything. They have had 43 #1 singles including 21 #1 singles in a row, a record that will probably never be equaled in any genre. They brought youthful energy, sex appeal and a rocking edge that broadened country’s audience and opened the door to self-contained bands from then on, and they undertook a journey that led, 73 million albums later, to the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Of the early days and their humble beginnings, Jeff says, “I don’t think we thought too far ahead. We were more concerned with paying our bills at the end of the week playing music.”
The Bowery was a chance to get established outside their home turf, where they’d played a nearby theme park, opening for national acts like Bobby Bare.
“We believed we had something pretty special from a vocal standpoint,” says Teddy, “and we were looking for the opportunity to prove it. There were a lot of times when we wondered whether we might be better off going back home and getting jobs, but we just kept rehearsing and writing songs, trying to get better and believing we could do it.”
“I went to see them at The Bowery,” legendary producer, Harold Shedd says, “and the sound that these three guys could create together was just really something. I saw the crowd reacting to music they’d never heard before as though they had. They were doing some covers, but a lot of the ALABAMA show at the time was original material, including stuff that wound up on the first three albums we did together.”
The band was revolutionary in more than one sense.
“We were renegades in sneakers and T-shirts,” says Teddy. “We had long hair and played loud and some of the country folks resisted us for a while. But then of course they did accept us and then after that, our success made it lots easier for other bands to try it in country music.”
The fact that some of the heirs of that legacy–Eli Young Band, Rascal Flatts and Florida Georgia Line–were among the stars paying tribute on Alabama Friends, their most recent release, is part of their legacy as surely as the awards and plaudits they’ve earned through the years. And those, of course, have been legion. They include more than 150 major industry nods, including two Grammys, the Minnie Pearl Humanitarian award, Entertainer of the Year awards three times from the CMA and five times from the ACM, as well as the latter’s Artist of the Decade award. They earned 21 Gold ®, Platinum ® and Multi-Platinum ® albums and were named the RIAA’s Country Group of the Century.
But awards are only a part of a legacy that finds its most important home in the hearts of listeners everywhere. Some of those are superstars in other genres, as Randy found out not long ago.
“I was part of a benefit concert at the Ryman,” he says, “and I look over there’s Jon Bon Jovi. He walked over and said hello and it turns out he likes our music.”
Many more, of course, are everyday country fans.
“A lot of fans will start a conversation with, ‘I don’t want to bother you,'” says Jeff, “but what they don’t understand is that everything that’s happened to us, every one of those awards, happened because we’ve been accepted and supported by our fans.”
Not long ago, Teddy was witness to a scene that shows that their legacy of song remains as fresh as it was when that streak in the ’80s kicked it all off.
“I was in Nashville,” he says, “walking by this club full of young people–I’m talking 18 or 20. The band started playing ‘Dixieland Delight’ and everybody in the place started singing and sang all the way through. I had to smile at the longevity of the songs. Maybe some of those kids didn’t even know who ALABAMA was, but they knew the music, and so I think that’s a tribute to the fact that we spent a career putting out good songs that stand the test of time.”
Ticket prices and details on how to order can be found at www.statefairofwv.com. Tickets will only be available via Etix at www.statefairofwv.com or by calling 1-800-514-ETIX (3849) Monday through Friday 9 am – 6 pm or Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets will not be sold at the State Fair Box Office.
The 2015 State Fair themed “It Feels Like Fun. It Feels Like Fair”, is a 10-day Fair scheduled August 14-23, 2015. The State Fair of West Virginia, with a $13.8 million dollar economic impact on the state of West Virginia, is a 501 © 3 non-profit corporation committed to the traditions of agriculture, family entertainment, and education. For more information, please visit www.statefairofwv.com, or follow fair events on Facebook and Twitter.
2nd Annual WV N.T.P.A Championships Set to Take Place at State Fairgounds
LEWISBURG, WV (11/25/2014)(readMedia)– The Second Annual West Virginia Grand Nationals N.T.P.A. Championship truck and tractor pull is set to take place on Friday, May 22 at 7 pm and Saturday, May 23 at 7 pm at the State Fairgrounds in Fairlea, WV. Featured classes will include SUPER Farm Tractors, FWD Trucks, and Light Unlimiteds.
“Last year this event was exciting, fun and full of action,” State Fair Event Center Operations Manager Kelly Collins stated. “We are thrilled to have the WV N.T.P.A Championship back again on Memorial Day Weekend 2015 and we are looking forward to another great event.”
Tickets for the WV Grand National NTPA events go on sale December 2 and can be purchased through www.statefairofwv.com or by calling ETIX at 1.800.514.ETIX (3849). Tickets will go on sale at the State Fair Box Office later in the year.
Advanced ticket prices are available for adult tickets and reserved seating. Ticket holders will have access to pit areas and food concessions will be available. The State Fair Event Center also offers full hookup campsites and reservations can be made by phone at 304-645-1090.
The NTPA is the sport’s oldest and most respected truck and tractor pulling sanctioning organization. Governed by a board of directors, the NTPA is managed by World Pulling International (WPI), an independently owned entity. Headquartered in Worthington, Ohio, the NTPA provides rules and regulations and the infrastructures required for organizations throughout the country to arrange truck and tractor pulls. For more information about the NTPA, visit www.ntpapull.com, www.facebook.com/ntpapulling, www.twitter.com/ntpapull, or call the NTPA office at (614) 436-1761.
The 2015 State Fair is themed “It Feels Like Fun. It Feels Like Fair.” and is a 10-day Fair scheduled for August 14-23, 2015. The State Fair of West Virginia, with a $13.8 million dollar economic impact on the state of West Virginia, is a 501 © 3 non-profit corporation committed to the traditions of agriculture, family entertainment, and education. The 200 acre State Fair Event Center hosts over 200 events annually. For more information, please visit www.statefairofwv.com, or follow fair events on Facebook and Twitter.
State Fair Event Center Features Shopping this Winter!
LEWISBURG, WV (11/19/2014)(readMedia)– Winter events at the State Fair Event Center include three great weekly opportunities to shop!
The fairgrounds flea market moves inside the heated West Virginia building for the winter season this Saturday, November 22, 2014. Markets are held every Tuesday and Saturday with a special Christmas Open House set for Saturday, December 13th, 2014. One day setups for the Christmas Open House are by reservation only.
The indoor flea market provides shoppers an opportunity to “treasure hunt” and local vendors an affordable indoor retail location through the cold winter months! Look for a variety of antiques, collectibles, gently worn clothing, electronics and more. Tuesday markets are 7:30 am to 1 pm and Saturday markets are 7:30 am – 1:00 pm. Jim’s Drive In operates the food concession for the indoor flea markets. Vendors interested in participating may phone 304-645-1090 or visit statefairofwv.com to download a vendor application and rules. Applications may also be obtained in the State Fair office, Monday through Friday 8 a.m. – 4 pm.
Fans of locally grown produce and locally produced farm products will have the opportunity to shop every Saturday beginning December 6th at the new Wild Wonderful Indoor Winter Farmers Market in the 4,000 square foot, heated, Douglass Annex building. The market is open to any small independent producer in the southeast region of West Virginia. Vendors who expect to sell at all or most of the markets may request a dedicated space that will be theirs for the duration of the market. Vendors who will only set up occasionally will be assigned a space by the Market Manager depending on what is available.Vendors may sell any produce, food or value added products that are grown or made on land under their control (their farm or land leased or rented by them for their own use). A variety of
special events, including culinary demonstrations, food preservation workshops, cake decorating and holiday themed activities are planned throughout the winter and on each market day. For an application and market details, please phone 304-445-7068, or download an application at statefairofwv.com or lewisburgfarmersmarket.com, or email nuttyknollfarm@yahoo.com.
The State Fair Event Center is a 200 acre multi-purpose meeting and exposition facility providing a wide variety of event rental opportunities and hosting over 200 events annually. For more information, please visit www.statefairofwv.com, or follow fair events on Facebook and Twitter.
