The festival begins this year on November 4 and runs until January 9, 2022.
Wheeling is a historic town along the Ohio River. Just an hour south of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the town, like its northern neighbor, was a booming metropolis in the industrial age. Robber barons, industrialists, and affluent leaders created a wealthy enclave along the river, and today many of those grand homes still stand. At the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, Wheeling was the capital of the new state of West Virginia from 1863 until 1870 and 1875 and 1885.
Wheeling Ohio County Airport (HLG) is a compact towered airport with two intersecting runways set atop a hill overlooking downtown Wheeling. The setting includes the Ohio River that runs through the city, and the monster smoke stacks at the Cardinal Power Plant emit a plume of steam 2,000 feet high.