Ramps and Rail Festival 2022
After two years, the Ramps and Rail Festival came back to Elkins! The weather cooperated and we had a beautiful day filled with great live music, ramp themed food, and an array of local craft vendors. An estimated 2000 people attended the festival.
The Elkins Depot Welcome Center volunteers and staff were kept busy selling t-shirts, raffle tickets, collecting votes and assisting guests in the Welcome Center. On festival day, over 700 people came through our doors! The Mack Samples Band and Aurora Celtic performed this year. Offering different genres of Old-time and Irish, they each had people on their feet dancing.
There was lots of excitement when the train pulled in and out of the depot on festival day. The Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad ran two hour-long excursions. Before and after each ride the train sat on the tracks and many people took advantage of the great photo opportunity. The Ramps and Rail rides are perfect for community members and families with young children wanting a shorter, climate-controlled train ride.
Along with the staples of the Ekins Kiwanis Club Ramp Burgers, Beander’s, lemonade and concessions, this year we had the addition of mini donuts and tacos. As in the past, festival goers voted for their favorite food and craft vendors. The festival concluded with the announcement of the People’s Choice winners. Vintage Restaurant took first place with their ramp and cheese risotto balls, second was El Gran Sabor with their ramp cachapas, always a crowd favorite, and Gil’s Pit Beef won third with their grilled beef, pork, and turkey.
Craft vendors offered a diverse range of goods from pottery to birdhouses, leather products, jewelry, and more. The competition was steep but our well-deserved People’s Choice winners included for first place Hidden Treasures and Creations with their handmade jewelry, second place for Krazy Kreations by Jodi with her fun pots for plants, and third place for Macie Higgins with her pottery! Congratulations to all our winners!
For me, it was my first Ramps and Rail experience. Last year we were unable to hold the festival, so I am happy I got to see what all the talk was about. I have been hearing about this festival since I arrived in August 2020 and I was so excited for it to take place again this year! I couldn’t have asked for a better Ramps and Rail experience, the weather was wonderful, the food was delicious, the music was lively, and the vendors and attendees were cheerful and excited to be at an event like this again. I am looking forward to more upcoming events before my term ends, but it will be hard to top this one.
Written by Morgan Glup, AFNHA AmeriCorps Member serving with the Elkins Depot Welcome Center and Elkins-Randolph Tourism County CVB