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September is the season for Forest Festival preparation in Elkins. All the downtown store windows are peopled with manikins wearing velvet gowns once worn by former queens, maids of honor, and flower girls. Flags and banners festoon the light poles along our streets and even the biggest potholes have been filled by Elkins City Street Department. Sidewalk cracks are covered with pots of yellow mums.
This year the decorations at Kump Center have reached a new high level thanks to the work of Anna Blosser and Laura Santmyer. A tall Cornhusk Princess stands near the front fence and beckons passersby to stop at historic Kump House. There are cornhusks wrapped around the pillars and railings of the side porch where mums and pumpkins rest near the side door.
Inside the historic house, Anna Blosser used dried Hydrangea blooms and a variety of other fall foliage to cover the oak mantelpiece in the living room and the cherry mantel in the library. In the center of the dining room table sits a pumpkin surrounded by leaves and seed pods inside a locally crafted wooden bowl. These decorations are over the top.
Caterer Suzi Gordon set out a fabulous spread when Maid Silvia visited Kump Center on Monday with her entourage of Forest Festival dignitaries and State Police. Suzi made chocolate-covered strawberries, chicken-salad tortilla cups, a variety of cupcakes and other tasty treats. The table was so inviting, but the guests also took time to tour the house.
We had two more days of Open House on Tuesday and Thursday this week, and another opportunity to see the fall decoration will be available on Halloween which is Governor H. G. Kump's 149th Birthday. If you have special guests who would like to see the house by appointment check our website.
At Kump Education Center we always decorate open houses for festival time because many members of the Kump family have participated in the Forest Festival. Last year Sterling Anne Kump of Moorefield, WV was the queen. Her parents were originally from Elkins, and they decided to move back home in the last year. Now Stirling's red-headed brother is the Kump quarterback who keeps the ball moving in the right direction for Elkins High School.
The first Cyrus Scott Kump was the director of the festival many times between 1933 and 1963. He was not a great football player like his red-headed great-grandson is now. Nevertheless, in 1934 Cy played the part of Pluto driving his horse-drawn chariot around the Forest Festival Pageant stage twice to snatch Persephone off the platform and take her to the underworld.The mythic loss of Persephone made Demeter (Mother Earth) so sad that she grieved and caused the coming of the cold winters.
In my mind, the Kump family is almost mythical. However, I realize that events like the Forest Festival require the work of multiple families collaborating over decades. Such a high level of local volunteerism is rare in any community, and it is one of the great things that makes Elkins a wonderful place to live.