WHEELING, W.Va (WTRF) – Santa is coming to town a bit early for West Virginia’s Biggest Vendor, Arts and Crafts Show and it’s right here in Wheeling!
On October 27th, 28th and 29th, Christmas at the Highlands is returning to the Highlands Sports Complex for the second time.
Event organizers say it’s going to be bigger than last year with nearly 8000 people expected to attend.
Event organizer Kevin Carroll says one of their goals with the event this year was to make it accessible to everyone.
“We’ll have places with more pit stops throughout {based on} the feedback we got last year. That way people don’t have to walk the whole length. We’ll have shuttles running through the parking lot so that people can be dropped off and picked up and brought around to their cars in the parking lot. So, we want to make sure it’s convenient for everyone mobility wise.”
Kevin Carroll | Event Organizer
Around 240 vendors from nine states will be there selling one-of-a-kind products. In fact, Carroll says they unfortunately had to deny almost 150 vendors in order to ensure a wide variety of items would be available at the event.
“People might worry like, oh, it’s going be crowded. We are at a football field with 6 to 7 aisles. So, it’s going to be spread out. You wouldn’t even be able to tell that there’s that many people there. And it’s just an amazing event with vendors from all over. We got Kentucky, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, Maryland. They’re coming from everywhere. And hundreds of local vendors.”
Kevin Carroll | Event Organizer
There is a $3admission fee, opportunities to get pictures with Santa and a 50/50 raffle.
The money raised from the event goes toward the Wayne Whilhlem Foundation Scholarship that is awarded to high school students pursuing an education at a trade school.
Christmas at the Highlands runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 27 and Saturday, Oct. 28, and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 29.
