(Photos archived by James Thornton)
It is a process here in the Upper Ohio Valley, and the residents adhere to the traditions long ago adopted in East Ohio and in the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia.
Once, there were Santas in front of most businesses, and some retail stores even dedicated floors to toys with a special, throned area for jolly ol’ St. Nick. Two stores took Christmas to the extreme, though, with Cooey-Benz’s Santa wonderland and the Talking Christmas Tree at L.S. Good.
These days, Santa Claus visits the Ohio Valley Mall, and he makes visits to other private businesses and a plethora of public fundraisers, so there remains that second chance for a child to get his Wish List right the next time around.
Christmas is different here, but it is the same, too, in this valley region despite the declined downtowns, the constant controversy clouding the good works of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, and the very visible poverty and homelessness along the banks of Big Wheeling Creek and the Ohio River.
But once, back when we were children, we didn’t see that kind of stuff, so those issues didn’t matter to us although they existed then, too.
Hustle & Bustle
We annually collect by the thousands during that one mid-November weekend for the region’s largest Christmas parades in decorated downtowns in Wheeling, Moundsville, and St. Clairsville so we can watch the high school bands, the decorated floats, the dance troupes, and the grand marshalls roll on by.
The valley’s downtowns do still decorate with lights in trees and holiday-themed hangings, but yes, the days of heavy-coat commerce ended in the 1980s.
Trimming the Tree
A few weeks after the city’s ornaments are put into place, the time arrives for folks to go purchase that perfect Christmas tree, and we buy those resurrection symbols and wreaths of eternity at local lots and from fields of frasers, spruces, and douglas firs. Some dare to chop their own while others simply trust the employees to strap the sapling to our automobile’s roof for transport to its future place of glory.
The lighting of a Christmas Tree at Market Plaza in downtown Wheeling took place once again this year, and the event even included a visit from Santa Claus.
Presents Under the Tree
The shopping season is not as furious as it was once was in the downtown districts like Martins Ferry, Moundsville, Bellaire, and Wheeling, and the crowds at the Ohio Valley Mall and The Highlands were dense but not packed likely thanks to online shopping. Toy stores and even toy departments have dwindled, too, here in the Upper Ohio Valley, but Deluxe Toy & Hobby in Martins Ferry remains very popular.
The toys sure have changed, though, and that is why this valley is filled with residents who once received baby dolls, Big Wheels, board games, footballs and basketballs, new bikes, Barbies, G.I. Joes, and chemistry sets, but these days if the gift doesn’t come with a charger, it’s soon displaced.
And then, a Festival
In the mid-1980s, Oglebay Park gave the people of the Upper Ohio Valley both a gift and a traffic problem when it launched the annual Festival of Lights, a driving tour featuring more than 60 displays along 12 miles of park property. When the festival was founded in 1985, traffic backed up onto Interstate 70, a distance of more than four miles trekked bumper to bumper for hours.
Through the years, though, copycats have drawn drivers to closer locations, but there remain several evenings during the two-month light show when capacity crowds cruise through the city-owned property.
James Thornton of Creative Impressions in Wheeling created the following video in 1995 to tell the story of the Festival of Lights, and it was once offered for sale on compact discs. The Oglebay event was a partnership with Jamboree USA when it launched thanks to Randy Worls and Ross Felton and their team of designers and park and theatre employees.
James Thornton has published several volumes of history on the city of Wheeling, and those interested in purchasing one of them can do so by contacting him at cre8m@comcast.net, or visit the Creative Impressions website.
