ELKINS – Since its creation in 2008, the annual Ramps and Rail Festival has become a major spring event for downtown Elkins.

In recognizing its popularity, festival organizers have decided to make some changes to the event’s format in order to make it more attractive – not only for local residents, but for out-of-town guests as well.

As in the past, this year’s event, which is scheduled for Saturday, April 25, will be filled with all the same traditions that the past 15 festivals have had. The difference this year is that the celebration will kick off the day before, with an event hosted by the Tygart Hotel on Friday, April 24.

“We are marketing the festival as a weekend event this year, because the Tygart Hotel is doing the Tygart Together on Friday night with a huge block party,” Elkins Depot Welcome Center Executive Director Anne Beardslee told The Inter-Mountain. “So we are encouraging people to come in for the whole weekend. We are going to do this year-after-year now. They (Tygart Hotel) are going to continue their block party so that it becomes a ramp festival weekend, instead of just a one-day festival.”

Tygart Together is the official Ramps and Rail Festival kickoff and will take place in front of the Tygart Hotel on Davis Avenue Friday, April 24. A portion of the street will be blocked off during the event, which also serves as a two-year Tygart Hotel anniversary celebration of its reopening.

Tygart Together will run from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. and will feature an evening full of music, food, and family fun. There will be live music, interactive games and activities, and inflatable sports. Musical performers to be featured include Crandall Creek, Core Hager and Juice Newsom & The Groove.

The celebration on Saturday, April 25 will take place at the Elkins Railyard Depot and will begin with the annual Highlands Trail Foundation bike ride at 10 a.m. Registration for the bike event will be at 9:30 a.m.

The Ramps and Rail Festival food and craft vendors will also open for business at 10 a.m. There are 85 different vendors signed up for the event, 26 of which are food vendors.

“Our first year we had 30 vendors, so we’ve tripled what we had our first year,” Beardslee said. “We had limited it to 50 vendors before last year when we decided to block off the street (Railroad Avenue) and open it up for more. And it grew very quickly. Last year we had 20 more than before and this year we have 15 more than that.”

Beardslee said that the food vendors attending will offer a variety of prepared ramp dishes, including ramp burgers, which are always a favorite among those attending the event.

“Ramp burgers are really popular and Kiwanis will be back doing them this year,” Beardslee said. “They didn’t do them at last year’s festival, but the year before, when they did, they sold around 800 burgers.”

The train rides, which are scheduled for 11 a.m., are unfortunately already sold out for this year’s festival. Those not all aboard one of the trains will be able to enjoy the live music that will take place at the Amphitheater stage beginning at 11 a.m. Perfect Third, which features Joel and Tiffany Franks along with Seth Maynard, will be the first live performers. The Lucky Devils will follow Perfect Third’s performance at 1:30 p.m.

“We have some great entertainment lined up for this year’s festival,” Beardslee said.

The day will conclude with an awards presentation at 4 p.m., when the top three food vendors and top three craft vendors are chosen. For more information on the 16th Annual Ramps and Rail Festival, call 304-635-7803 or visit elkinsdepot.com.