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HELVETIA -- The Helvetia Community Fair, one of the oldest and most traditional agricultural fairs in West Virginia, will return this weekend.
The first-ever Helvetia Community Fair was held in 1917. It has been celebrated each year since, except in 2020 when it was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Fair celebrated its centennial anniversary in 2017.
The annual event, which commemorates the rich culture and history of the small Randolph County village, celebrates harvest and the town's Swiss heritage.
This year's event will get underway early Saturday, morning when the exhibits and vendors open for business at 10 a.m.
The exhibits will be located in the downstairs portion of the Community Hall, while the vendors will be scattered throughout the village. Fair exhibits entries will include home canning items, garden produce, baking, sewing, knitting, woodworking,and other hobbies. All the vendors are required to sell handmade items during the event.
"We will have a little bit of everything," Helvetia Community Fair Association member Betty Biggs said of the exhibits. "Canning, baking, needle work, garden produce, fruits, honey, homemade cheese, wine and more. And almost all of it is local."
Arts and crafts will be presented in the Red Hall and Field beginning at 10 a.m., as well as a book sale in the library, archives at the schoolhouse, and cornhole at Community Hall.
There will also be live music at the Meadow Stage until 2 p.m., when the Alpine Parade gets underway. The Festival Program will take place immediately following the parade in the meadow and will feature Swiss singing, Swiss folk dancing, fahnenschwingen and Alphorn playing.
"All the organizations and families in town make the floats, it's a homegrown deal," Biggs told The Inter-Mountain. "The parade is not a big commercialized thing, it's all hand done… It will consist of handmade carts, goats, cows, and stuff that represents the village."
Kids field events and games will be offered, as well as live music at the Meadow Stage beginning at 4 p.m. The Helvetia Fair Square Dance will be in the Community Hall from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m..
"There is going to be wonderful music at the square dance," Biggs said. "We have two of our native sons, who are excellent fiddle players, back with us for the dance."
Freddie Burkey and Bruce Betler are the featured fiddle players. They will be joined by a host of other musicians during the square dance.
"You won't find any better fiddle players than those two," Biggs said.
The Helvetia Mountain Kid's Run will take place at 8:45 a.m. on Sunday, and will be followed by the 10k Mountain Run and 2 mile walk at 9 a.m. Exhibits, arts and crafts, vendors and archive viewing will be open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday.
For more information on the event, visit the Helvetia Community Fair Facebook Page or go to HelvetiaWV.com.