OCEANA, WV (WOAY) – Oceana is Wyoming County’s oldest city. It was founded in 1797 by the Revolutionary War veteran John Cooke.
In recent years, the city has been holding an annual celebration in Cooke’s honor, but last year they had to put things on hold.
So the town got together to form a committee that would make this year’s celebration better than ever.
Don Morgan is a committee member with the new team working on the festival. He says the John Cooke festival is a huge tradition that put a damper over the whole town when it was canceled last year.
“John Cooke was the founder of Oceana,” Morgan said. “The celebration’s been going on a few years now. We didn’t get to have it last year because of COVID.”
The John Cooke Day celebration is set to be one of the largest events put on by the city in years. They’re trying to get together food vendors, live music, a pie eating contest and much more.
“We’re trying to revive the community, it’s a great little town to live in. I grew up here, I love it here, and I want to see it survive.”
The celebration starts on Aug. 20 at Gilliland Park, and will last throughout the day.
