Kump Center event celebrates the Wild, Wonderful Woods

ELKINS -- Despite several thunderstorms passing through the area and spreading rain over the weekend, the Wild, Wonderful Woods celebration held at the historic Gov. Kump House on Saturday was deemed a success.

"We had a little bit of a challenge because of a downpour we had around 10 a.m.," Nanci Bross-Fregonara, communication specialist for the Kump Center, told The Inter-Mountain. "We had to move some of the vendors and organizations inside, but we managed to make everyone inside and a lot of people came out and spent a long period of time at the event. We were very pleased with how things went."

The event ran from noon to 5 p.m. and celebrated local forest heritage along with West Virginia's 160th birthday, which was on June 20. Public tours of the house, live music, vendors, kids activities, a pie auction and an Eleanor Roosevelt reenactor were all part of the celebration.

"We had a lot of people go on the tours and many participated in the pie auction, which was a great success," said Bross-Fregonara. "The pie auction is one of our biggest fundraisers of the year and we are very pleased with the amount of people who showed up for that and gave nice high bids on some of the fantastic pies that we had."

Two new areas opened during the event and were showcased at the celebration. Visitors attending were able to tour two additional floors of the house that were open for the first time, and also take a stroll on a new tree walk that was recently constructed.

"It was great to have some of the new parts of the house open for visitors," Bross-Fregonara said. "A lot of people were very excited to see the upper floors and also to experience the new tree walk. I know it was a very busy weekend with a lot of wonderful events happening throughout the area as well, so we were very happy with the amount of people we had come out and see us on Saturday."

The Appalachian Dulcimers and Augusta Community Choir performed at the event, as did Katy McClane, who played traditional Native American wood flute music.

"We were really grateful to all the performers who came out and played music," said Bross-Fregonara. "People really seemed to enjoy all the different music we had for them."

Food vendors attending the event included Derrick Helzer's Pig Pen Catering and Chef Kevin from the Delmonte. Tygart Wood Craft, Leonard Whritenour, Bare Branches Jewelry, and Randall Arbogast were among the craft vendors taking part in the celebration.

"We were very pleased with the number of vendors we had come out," said Bross-Fregonara. "They were all doing crafts related to wood, including some wood bowls, cutting boards, and jewelry. It was really neat to recognize how many crafts people there are in the area who work with wood, because that was the theme of the whole event.

"Then we also had a lot of government organizations attend, like the Forest Service and D&E College. It's amazing to me how many organizations and groups really celebrate our forest legacy."

The West Virginia Humanities Council partially funded the Wild, Wonderful Woods celebration at the Gov. Kump House, which will be open for tours on Tuesdays throughout the summer from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., beginning on July 11.

For more information on the Kump House or Kump Education Center go to www.kumpeducationcenter.org or call 304-637-7820.