For decades, the city of Wheeling was known as a music town.
There were those Jamboree USA fans that filled the Capitol Music Hall for two shows every Saturday night for years. Downtown Wheeling once was jammed with nightclubs, too, and there was jazz and rock and country along Main and Market streets that welcomed tourists into the early hours of the next day.
People came here just for the music. They came from Canada for country, and they came from everywhere else for everything else.
“Wheeling had a robust music scene when I first started working here,” recalled Frank O’Brien, who worked for WTRF TV-7 for 20 years before becoming the executive director for the Wheeling Convention and Visitors Bureau in 2006. “During those days in downtown Wheeling, you had every kind of music you could think of and that’s what made it so popular to the people who drove here from Columbus or Pittsburgh, and the streets were always lined with the tour buses.
“The Jamboree was a big deal for a lot of years,” he said. “Live music is what had Wheeling on the map back then, and it’s been good to see it came back to the forefront over the last 10 years. It’s difficult to beat live music as something that people are going to enjoy while they are here in the Wheeling area, and we have a lot of musicians in this area who are very, very talented.”
But is it back? Really back?
“I do believe it is. Based on what I have seen the past two years, I believe the city of Wheeling can claim again to have a live and local music scene,” O’Brien insisted. “Of course, our local bars have long driven the music scene here, but there are a lot of other venues now that were not around when the Jamboree was the big thing week in and week out. Those new venues, though, are the most popular we have these days.
“I have been very, very pleased to see the number of live musicians increase in this area, and their talent level is unbelievable. This region really, really has a lot of talents men and women,” he said. “I can tell you that the Convention and Visitors
Live entertainment most definitely making a positive difference here in Wheeling, both with tourism and with the overall quality of life.”
People will drive for it
“People most definitely will travel to hear great, live music. They’ve done it for decades and I believe we will always travel for a great performance by a band or by a solo artist,” O’Brien said. “We have seen it for a lot of years with the Capitol Theatre and that’s why, during the course of a year, the theatre beings in an economic impact that’s worth about $3-5 million.
“For every 50,000 visitors, we realize an economic impact of a few million dollars, that means those visitors are spending their money at local restaurants and hotels, at gas stations and at grocery stores. Think about it – when you travel, you need things during your trip, and that’s what we see here, too,” he explained. “It doesn’t seem to matter what the internet offers or how those options continue to grow, there’s still that need for live music. People love it.”
The Wheeling Metro Area
Jon Banco is a 40-year-old trumpet player who was graduated from Wheeling Park High School in 2000, and after he earned a music degree from West Liberty University a few years later, he’s been a musical staple.
Banco also works with a plethora of local venue owners, too, to provide performers for a few evenings per week.
Friday:
- 19th Hole, Gage Joseph, 6-9 p.m.
- Route 88 BBQ, Kanawha, 6-9 p.m.
- West Sports Bar, The Muddle, 7-10 p.m.
- Quaker Steak& Lube, Chuck Lucas, 7-10 p.m.
- Prima Marina, White Collar Criminals, 7-10 p.m.
- El Gran Patron, Jason Treuman, 7-10 p.m.
Saturday:
- Belmont Brewerks, R.J. Gaudio, 6-8 p.m.
- Lakeview Patio – Wilson Lodge, Stevie Lynn, 7-10 p.m.
- Prima Marina, Jason Treuman, 7-10 p.m.
- El Gran Patron, Sure Shot, 7-10 p.m.
- Undo’s West, Daniel Welsh, 8:30-11:30 p.m.
Banco also assists with the entertainment schedules at Oglebay’s other venues, including the Anna Kuchinka Amphitheatre, Wilson Lodge, Camp Russell, and the Pine Room.
“And along with those places and the Capitol Theatre, we have the Victoria Theatre, Wesbanco Arena, and Heritage Port, and we attract more than 300,000 people to those areas on an annual basis,” O’Brien explained. “And now that we have started in Wheeling an endowment fun for future entertainment, I believe the future look brighter than it has in a very long time.
“Those venues are important tourism drivers for the Wheeling market, and the more we can program those venues with everything from live to Broadway shows, the better because our local businesses are benefiting from those visitors and those dollars,” O’Brien said. “That’s what we call directing spending, and because we average 54,000 people at the Capitol Theatre before the pandemic, that was the kind of impact entertainment at those venues has had most recently. We’re all working hard to bring all of that back now so that we’re able to get out and about more often these days.”
