Pleasant Valley council to help finance festival

By Paul Fallon
Times West Virginian

PLEASANT VALLEY September 18, 2008 01:10 am

— During Wednesday’s meeting, members of city council agreed to provide funding to help finance a local festival scheduled for December.
The city council members agreed to provide $3,000 to Main Street Fairmont to help the organization fund its third annual Feast of the Seven Fishes Festival, which will be held Dec. 13. Vera Sansalone, executive director of Main Street Fairmont, and Robert Tinnell, author of the book “Feast of the Seven Fishes,” were on hand to discuss the festival.
“It’s grown into quite an event for the area,” Sansalone said.
Sansalone said approximately 3,000 people attended last year’s festival. She added that the Food Network should be on hand this year to film the festival and to feature the home-cooked food available on the streets of Fairmont during the Feast of the Seven Fishes.
“It will be filmed this year and aired next Christmas,” she said.
Both Sansalone and Tinnell said this festival draws tourists from all over, including major cities such as Philadelphia, during a slow time for tourism. Both also added that the festival is a family event.
“And all of the money spent on the festival stays in the area,” Tinnell said. “We buy all of the groceries for the food vendors right here in town.”
The festival will run from 11 a.m. until 8 p.m. in downtown with a cooking school staged at 1 p.m. A parade will be held at 5:30 p.m.
“This is good for the whole county,” said council member Chuck Ledsome prior to the vote to fund the festival.
The council also voted to provide a Pleasant Valley resident with a $489 reimbursement for fixing a drainage problem on Lillie Street. The council members voted to provide the reimbursement because there is no clear boundary between where the state road ends and the private residence begins. Council member Gary Boyles cast the lone dissenting vote.
The council members also voted to observe National Christian Heritage week, which is held from Nov. 23 to 29.
Mayor Jack Bish also reminded all that the Pleasant Valley Disc Golf Classic will be held Saturday and Sunday at the Seth Burton Memorial Disc Golf Complex at Morris Park. The new 18-hole course Orange Crush will be dedicated at 1 p.m.
E-mail Paul Fallon at pfallon@timeswv.com.