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Not too hot for Volcano Days Fest

VOLCANO — A weekend of beautiful skies and warm temperatures helped increase attendance at this year’s annual Volcano Days Antique Engine Show and Festival at Mountwood Park.

The festival, which took place at the park off U.S. 50 east of Parkersburg, featured three days of live entertainment, displays of antique engines, historical lectures and tours, demonstrations, a variety of food concessions, a flea market and a craft show.

The festival commemorates Volcano, the oil boomtown that burned down in 1879 but at one time filled the valley with houses, shops and other business.

The Volcano Museum and visitors center was open for its final weekend of the season and was showcasing a small addition recently constructed to house additional exhibits, said Friends of Mountwood member Peggy Squires.

The Friends organization staffs the museum with volunteers through the summer season, from May through the end of Volcano Days in late September. Squires said the past summer was a good one for visitors and the festival weekend also saw a lot of people stopping in to view the exhibits and photos.

“We’ve been really busy, the weather’s been really nice,” Squires said of Volcano Days.

Food vendors Edwina Philips and Gary Winkleblech, with Maw’s Country Fixins from Washington, Pa., were serving food during the three-day festival. They have been coming to Volcano Days for several years and like the event.

“It’s been a good weekend,” Winkleblech said, citing the crowds and good weather.

Visitors to Volcano Days could see a variety of engines and other machinery, mostly antique but with a few modern pieces. Jeff Kennon, of Reno, was demonstrating the portable band saw mill he uses in his business. Kennon said he can take the band saw to customers’ homes and turn trees they have cut down into boards.

It was his fifth year at Volcano Days and Kennon said he likes coming to the event because of the people he meets and talks with during the festival.

“Whenever I fire it up, there’s usually a crowd that stops and watches and asks questions,” he said.

Bob and Linda Smith, of Parkersburg, have been coming to Volcano Days since its creation. They like how it has grown over the years while still maintaining an old-time feel.

“It kind of reminds me of the old times, my dad was born out here,” Bob Smith said of the Volcano area.

The Smiths said they like the food, antiques and the flea markets at the festival every year.

“This is my fifth Volcano Days and this is the busiest Saturday-Sunday, by far,” said Wood County Parks Director Jeremy Cross.

“I think that’s what’s bringing the crowds, the perfect weather,” he said Sunday afternoon. “It’s one of the biggest crowds I’ve seen here.”

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