MONONGALIA COUNTY, W.Va. A local resident has developed an idea to highlight local facilities and raise money for local non-profits while celebrating the holiday season.
Jamie Summerlin approached commissioners in Monongalia County with an event similar to the Charleston “Light the Nights” and reported similar events are held in 100’s of ballparks across the country, including the Arizona Diamondbacks Scottsdale spring-training facility. “Magic on the Mon” could be held at the Kendrick Family Ballpark at the Monongalia County Baseball Complex.
“Down in Charleston, where the Dirty Birds play, last year they had a massive event called “Light the Nights” at the ballpark,” Summerlin said. “Over 120,000 people went through that facility during that time.”
Similar to an event in his Wife’s hometown, the events are typically staffed by different non-profits each night who use the opportunity as a fundraising project. The groups range from school, church, service organizations, or traditional non-profits.
“Each night for that period of time, the organizations host the event that evening,” Summerlin said. “So, they’re responsible for handling the hot chocolate, the cider, and the cookies, and it helps drive revenue to the non-profits during that time.”
Summerlin has taken the step to register the domain name “Magic on the Mon” and wants to create a basic version of the event this year. He said community members and supporters have expressed interest, and this year could be a building and learning opportunity to expand the event for next year.
“We could even take this year doing something like this as a first step,” Summerlin said. “The following year, we had the potential of bringing in one of those portable ice rinks or an ice slide that we could put in on the paved area between Star Furniture and Buffalo Wild Wings.”
This would be a new opportunity to bring municipalities in the county together and provide help and support for a wide range of local groups. The event would be another opportunity to draw a regional audience to the area, driving more tourism dollars to the area.
“All of these entities could come together and do something for our community that could drive traffic and help bring even more awareness to the wonderful facilities we have here in Mon County.”
Events similar have been held with great success for years all over the country at major racing facilities, ballparks, and public areas, so the basic template for the event is already there, but time for “Magic on the Mon” is of the essence this year.
“Why not Mon County? Why not Morgantown? Why aren’t our communities here partnering with all the other entities that exist here?” Summerlin said. “With Granville, Star City, Westover, and all of them, we could all benefit, and if we work together, we could potentially make something like that happen.”