Special Programs for Fall 2024!
Sept. 23, 2024 (Mon. noon-2) 2nd Annual Redhead Festival with Wheeling YWCA - Kids!
Calling All Redheads! Enjoy a day of history, culture, and children’s activities inspired by redheads! This event will feature guest speakers and readings for area elementary and middle school classes; children’s activities, face-painting, and games; and a booth with information about bullying. For more info, email Ron Scott at
[email protected].
Sept. 23, 2024 (Mon. 6-8:30) 2nd Annual Redhead Festival with Wheeling YWCA - Grown Ups!
Calling All Redheads!
Enjoy a night of history, culture, and activities inspired by Redheads! Enjoy a screening of the award-winning film, “Being Ginger” as we raise awareness of skin cancer. Gather for the West Virginia record for most natural redheads in one –place! Browse Ginger-related products for sale! Visit a dermatologist booth for pre-screenings for skin cancer and get sunscreen samples. Learn the history of Scottish & Irish immigration to the U.S.. Enter contests for attendees including the Redhead who traveled the furthest for the event and most freckles in a one inch square of skin. For more info, email Ron Scott at [email protected].
Oct. 9, 2024 (Wed at 6:30 - 8:30 )
Violins of Hope The core mission of Violins of Hope (VoH) is education about the Holocaust through beautifully restored violins. Highlighting the universal language of music and the strength that comes from Hope, each violin can symbolically be seen as an individual with a unique voice and a harrowing story to be told as it is played once again. This program will include a prelude concert featuring local String Educators Ensemble headed by Justin Jones, playing on VoH violins and viola, including the VoH violin on loan from the Nashville Symphony. Renowned Israeli violinmaker and Co-founder of Violins of Hope Avshi Weinstein will then speak, followed by James Grymes, PhD, author of the award-winning book Violins of Hope: Instruments of Hope and Liberation in Mankind’s Darkest Hour. The book is about violins that were played by Jewish musicians during the Holocaust and will be available for purchase and signing before and after the program. Wheeling Symphony Orchestra musicians will perform selections on a VoH violin with piano accompaniment. This program is made possible through the generosity of VoH-WVU, the WSO musicians, and Barb Lewine, Holocaust Educator and member of the VoH-WVU Steering Committee who organized this special program.
Oct. 15, 2024 (Tues. at 6-8) The Human Library with Ron Scott and Wheeling YWCA
Community members will act as human “Books” that you can select and have a one-on-one conversation with as they share a bit of knowledge about a subject of their choosing. Subjects will vary from things like parenting to drug-reform, or from meal-planning to making money online. Witness and participate in the art of conversation while connecting with your community!
Oct. 16, 2024 (Wed. at 6-8) The Human Library with Ron Scott and Wheeling YWCA
Community members will act as human “Books” that you can select and have a one-on-one conversation with as they share a bit of knowledge about a subject of their choosing. Subjects will vary from things like parenting to drug-reform, or from meal-planning to making money online. Witness and participate in the art of conversation while connecting with your community!
Oct. 21, 2024 (Mon. at noon) WSO 95th Anniversary: Musical Legends of Wheeling
To commemorate the 95th anniversary of the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra, WSO Music Director, John Devlin, will be joined by Sonja Thoms (Executive Director of the Wheeling Symphony), Erin Rothenbuehler (Director of the Bellaire Public Library) and Charles Wilson in a discussion about the rich musical history of Wheeling. Three world-renowned musicians who called Wheeling home will be celebrated by the WSO: Eleanor Steber, Everett Lee, and Chu Berry. Join us on October 21 at 12 pm to hear more about these musicians and how their legacy continues to inspire the musical culture of our community.
Oct. 29, 2024 (Tues. at 6:30) Democracy: A Community Conversation
In conjunction with an exhibit that tells the story of the 60th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 designed by WVU professor Eve Faulkes and funded by the Community Coalition for Social Justice and a related graphic novel with West Virginians’ stories (including that of Rosemary Ketchum) told with over 200 illustrations, the Library and the WALS Foundation will host an Open Public Forum on our American Democracy. Beginning with conversations, and then using precedents and historical documents, we wish to encourage non-partisan, civil discussions on the state of democracy in our country and hopefully develop responsible voting in elections. This will include active listening and maintaining an atmosphere of open-ended, respectful dialogues exploring Democracy as a concept, lessons from history, and applying what we have learned to a contemporary problem or issue.
Nov. 21 (Thurs. at noon) The Life and Times of Edward Franklin “Pop” Geers
One hundred years have passed since the famous, Edward Franklin “Pop” Geers of Tennessee was killed in a harness racing accident at the West Virginia State Fair in Wheeling. Geers was born in Lebanon, Tennessee, in 1851 but he called Columbia, Tennessee, his home. After closing his training stables in Nashville, Tennessee, he moved to the old fairgrounds located in Columbia in 1876. The late 1800s marked the zenith of harness racing. Although harness racing originated in Colonial America, it did not reach its golden age until after the Civil War. Geers’s accomplishments in racing carried him from the tracks of the rural South to the Grand Circuit. His contributions ranged from improving the bloodlines of the Standardbred horse to adopting innovations such as a lighter sulky. After his tragic death, tributes came from across the continent from racing fans, reinsmen, and ordinary citizens, and a monument was dedicated in his honor in Columbia, Tennessee. This monument attests to his place as one of America’s first sports celebrities.
Sarah Elizabeth Hickman-McLeod was born and raised in Maury County, Tennessee. She lives on her great-grandmother Hutcherson’s farm with her husband, daughter, parents and an assortment of animals. She is a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University with a B.S. in Mass Communications and minors in History and Marketing and a Master of Arts in History with an emphasis in Public History. Over the past several years she has continued her research on her master’s thesis topic to create a book about Pop Geers, a famous harness racer from Tennessee, to be published soon.
This program is in partnership with the Museums of Ogelbay Institute. The Mansion Museum will soon be the site of a Harness Racing exhibit featuring Pop and his death in Wheeling 100 years ago.
