CAMP CREEK, WV (WOAY) – For 10 days in August, West Virginia’s natural beauty comes to life more than ever before, as wildflowers deliver their peak time of bloom, and because of this, a festival known as Peak of the Bloom was created to honor such a beautiful time of year.
“Frank was telling us about these bags of birdseed that he was gifted and he thought, what if I sow these seeds and do it in a remote area of the forest that most people don’t get a chance to see, and what it yielded was these amazing fields of wild sunflowers, and so he told us about that, describing it as “peak of the bloom,” and we were like, stop right there,” says Lori McKinney, festival organizer and Director of the Riff Raff Arts Collective, describing the inspiration behind the festival.
After seeing this dazzling field of sunflowers at Camp Creek State Park that was sparked by one idea by the former superintendent of the park, Frank Ratcliff, contributors of downtown Princeton’s Grassroots District came up with another idea, blending recreation and culture together.
“Peak of the Bloom is a celebration of the art of nature, and the idea is to cross-pollinate the cultural, grassroots district and all of the creative businesses and artists there, with our beautiful public lands here at Camp Creek State Park, and so ten days of celebrating the beautiful nature we are so lucky to be surrounded by,” she says.
The 10-day festival begins at the park with guided tours and other activities centered around doing just that–celebrating the art of nature. A picnic in the park catered by Bucha Brewhouse and Bistro mostly rounds off the celebration there, only to be followed by other activities throughout the week in the Mercer Street Grassroot District of Princeton.
“When people are coming in to visit or moving in, they are just blown away by this area, and you know we have this thriving downtown area with all of these creative businesses and people, and they all love this nature so much, so forging this partnership with Camp Creek State Park was really important to us so we can just embody all that is beautiful and attractive about our area,” adds McKinney.
The Peak of the Bloom Festival will last until Aug. 15 and will feature a full lineup of events and activities to take part in throughout the week in the Grassroots District of downtown Princeton. You can see the event schedule by going to Mercer Street Grassroots District on Facebook.
