MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A popular community event that is hosted monthly along High Street in downtown Morgantown is ready to put the 2025 season to a close while bringing in the holiday season.
Main Street Morgantown, in collaboration with the Arts Council of Greater Morgantown, will host the final Morgantown Arts Walk of the year Friday, November 7 from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m. where around a dozen business and just over 50 local arts and crafts vendors will take part in the festivities. Main Street Morgantown Promotion and Marketing Coordinator Ava Vavrick announced that the theme will be “Local for the Holidays,” where anyone who attends will have a chance to make an early dent in their holiday shopping.
“The Arts Walk theme is ‘Local for the Holidays’, so we’re really just trying to kick off the holiday season with the final Arts Walk of the season and get people into the businesses with the collaboration with Arts Council,” said Vavrick.
According to Vavrick, vendors and businesses will be open all the way down High Street on Friday, with Andrew Wick Guitars welcoming in customers, with the Morgantown Art Bar hosting activities as part of the event. Hoot and Howl on Walnut Street is also expected to be open, as well as a half dozen independent shops located along High Street heading towards the West Virginia University campus. Items such as handmade paintings and holiday-themed crafts will be among the wide variety of options that will be sold on Friday.
“The First Friday locations are Andrew Wick Guitars, the Mont Arts Center, the Co-op, the Morgantown Art Bar and Art Party as welll as Silver Pennies,” said Vavrick. “Then obviously one of our programs, Morgantown Restored the Art Lab, will have a dissension art exhibit pop up.”
The vendors that will be located along High Street and the Monongalia County Courthouse Square will include artists and crafter from the Morgantown area as well as parts of Monongalia, Preston and Marion counties. Live music will also take place heading towards the lower end of High Street, where live music will take place around the Monongalia County Courthouse Square throughout the evening. Prices for crafts sold will vary by vendor, with any money spent going directly towards the local economy.
“Shopping small and shopping local is so important and pertinent to our downtown and Morgantown’s economy,” said Vavrick. “We want to prop up and support our local businesses and make sure that they’re thriving.”
The goal of the Morgantown Arts Walk and the First Friday of the Arts is to promote small businesses and independent artists who live around the Morgantown area. This continues the tradition of the seven similar events that were hosted in 2025 as well as the dozens that have been hosted in years past. With the tradition ready to take a break ahead of the start of winter, Vavrick and the rest of Main Street Morgantown hope residents looking to do something on Friday night will come down High Street and see what small businesses have to offer.
“I’m ready for the downtown fall vibes for sure and just walking around hearing the good live performances that we have during arts walks,” said Vavrick. “And then popping into those local businesses and seeing friendly, familiar faces.”