By Mason Haynes

Saturday morning was bright and sunny when Ronceverte and Greenbrier County residents came down to visit Ronceverte’s first annual Expo at the Depot.

The event allows the city of Ronceverte to showcase some of its finest items and historic merchandise throughout the town. Locals and their families can come dine on some of the finest food the city has to offer.

Frank Shrewdsbury was once a resident in the city of Ronceverte, and  returns to West Virginia each summer to participate in local events. He commented that the Expo at the Depot made him feel right at home.

“I like this event because when I return to see some of the shops and eat some of the food from the concession stands it makes me feel like I was a kid again,” Shrewdsbury said. “When I was a youngster my dad use to take me right down the same street this festival was held on so I could get ice cream. Those were good old times when you had nothing to worry about.”

At the depot there were several events available for the kids, while the concession stands were set up with  unique products and displays made  by locals. Matt and Juile Carter are residents of Greenbrier County who collected parts of a 20th century barn and partially restored some of it to showcase to the public.

“We have a camp up at Cass and we have an old barn that was literally falling apart,” Carter said. “We asked the owner if we could harvest it and he told us to take all we want. Some of the Chestnut wood went through a cleaner while some of the other parts are still natural.”

Tammy Rhodes is the program manager for the Expo at the Depot, and spoke about how it places a good spotlight on Ronceverte.

“Ronceverte Main Street is the one putting this on,” Rhodes said. “It’s a benefit for the food bank, and of course to help the vendors. People are bringing canned food to deliver to the food bank, and of course, we wanted people to have fun.”

The Expo at the Depot will happen again next year in the summer of 2018.