Summer Events Guide is Out, Ready to 'Overcome the Obstacles'

Bob Heldreth of Panhandle Cleaning & Restoration announced Tuesday that the 2024 Ohio Valley Summer Events Guide has been officially released. The guide offers a complete list of free concerts and events in Ohio Valley communities this summer. Free copies can be obtained from local visitors bureaus or online at www.panhandlecr.com. (Photo by Eric Ayres)

WHEELING – Outdoor concert season is officially here and the 2024 Ohio Valley Summer Events Guide is now available so music lovers can find a range of free live performances in communities across the valley.

Presented by Panhandle Cleaning & Restoration and designed by Wheelhouse Creative, the annual Summer Events Guide has become a popular road map for area gatherings during the summer months.

Many Ohio Valley communities sponsor free weekly outdoor concerts and other public events from mid-May through August and, in some locations, into September.

With Wheeling as the epicenter of the guide’s radius of inclusion, events listed in the popular annual brochure are listed geographically from north to south – from Newell, West Virginia and downriver to Marshall County.

Bob Heldreth, vice president of marketing at Panhandle Cleaning & Restoration, said the guide is ideal for people who want to know at a glance what’s going on in their community, and it’s also suitable for those who want to attend live music and events. in other Ohio Valley towns.

“If you want to go see your favorite band or you just want a change of atmosphere, you can go up to Steubenville or Weirton, down to Moundsville or St. Clairsville,” he said. “The trips are all short, there are free concerts, and you can try a different restaurant or check out the community while you’re there.”

Events listed also include those in the communities of Chester, Toronto, Follansbee, Mount Pleasant, Tiltonsville and others, as well as events in Heritage Port, Wheeling Park, Oglebay and Top of West Virginia.

With the exception of a few select special events at Heritage Port, all listings in the Ohio Valley Summer Events Guide are for free community gatherings.

“It’s a good tool where all communities can come together under the umbrella of free live music – something they’ve been offering for years,” Heldreth said. “This brings it all together in one guide. This allows people to venture out of their city to see live music elsewhere.

The guide was designed by the late Robert “Scat” Scatterday, community leader and former longtime race director for the Ogden Newspapers Wellness Weekend presented by WVU Medicine.

“It was his idea,” Heldreth noted. “It really grew out of the idea he had of putting all this information together in one guide – it really took off.” The CVB here will tell you that people call in January to ask when the guide will be ready.

Those wishing to get their hands on a free guide to 2024 Ohio Valley summer events can do so by visiting their local tourism site, including the Wheeling CVB, Top of West Virginia in Weirton, Fort Steuben, Belmont County Tourism.

“They’re in your neighborhood,” Heldreth noted, “you just need to figure out where the pickup point is, and it’s usually your convention center or visitors bureau.”

Guides can also be viewed or downloaded from an online link at www.panhandlecr.com

This year’s guide follows the black-and-yellow work zone theme of “Rock through the Roadblocks” – providing a timely reminder to motorists venturing into downtown Wheeling that with a little patience, they can pass through the sprawling Downtown Streetscape Project to get to their various destinations, like Heritage Port.

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