“ We know we can educate you, graduate you and elevate you,” Stuart says.“ We are keenly focused on trying to create an environment where you want to live, work, play and raise a family in Southern West Virginia.”
Stuart believes a strong universitycommunity bond— what he calls communiversity— can make this a reality. Recently, WVU Tech began matching scholarships at Shady Spring High School to support local students in pursuing higher education and has also launched an initiative to help out-of-state students find a home in the Mountain State.
“ I believe one of our greatest exports in West Virginia, specifically Southern West Virginia, is the exporting of our educated young people,” he says.
Arts and Culture
Arts and culture help Southern West Virginians express creativity and celebrate what makes the region unique.
Moore says the WV Hive is advancing this mission by partnering with the Tamarack Foundation for the Arts through the West Virginia Creative Network program. This initiative will provide specialized training for WV Hive staff to enhance their ability to support artisan entrepreneurs.
“ We all recognize— and see it happening across the state— that artisans are at the heart of revitalization efforts in many of our communities,” Moore says.
The NRGRDA and WV Hive are also developing PATTERN, a textile training and manufacturing initiative. The project aims to transform the bottom floor of a former manufacturing space in Beckley into an industrial sewing center, with the main floor serving as a small batch production facility.
“ This all came from the fact that we had WV Hive clients coming to us with a product idea or interest in textiles and we didn’ t have the resources, nor could we find the resources because they didn’ t exist in the state. So, we’ re developing it ourselves,” Moore says.
Strader says Beckley is amplifying its music scene through the new Bill Withers Park, a dedicated music space featuring outdoor instruments and a statue of West Virginia-born Bill Withers himself.
“ The goal is to make it a 100 % music park,” she says.“ There will be murals and things as it moves along, and the annual Bill Withers music festival, which was hosted this year on June 28.”
Valerie Pritt, director of public relations at Experience Greenbrier Valley, says the Greenbrier Valley Theater has a stellar upcoming season with acts, including Beautiful: The Carole King Musical and The Burnt Part Boys.
“ We’ re very lucky to have a professional theater here in West Virginia, along with Carnegie Hall in our backyard you can walk to in two blocks,” she says.
Lewisburg— recently awarded Best Small Town Food Scene by USA Today— hosted the 100th annual West Virginia State Fair in August 2025 as well, which featured a variety of musical acts.
Outdoor Recreation and Tourism
Outdoor recreation and tourism are major draws in Southern West Virginia.
Sullivan touches on tourism numbers, saying the New River Gorge has seen some exciting growth in recent years, including 1.8 million visitors and $ 1.2 billion of visitor spending in 2024.
Fayetteville Town Manager Matt Diedrich says Fayetteville will draw in visitors with a new boutique hotel, located on the site of the previous middle and high school, offering much-needed lodging and amenities.
“ There’ s a lot of history for those that went to school there, and it will be a neat lodging experience to add to the uniqueness we have with some of the Airbnbs and such in the area,” he says.
For trail development, Summersville is adding 15 to 20 miles of hiking, running and biking trails to its 128-acre recreation complex project that is currently underway. The complex will also include a dog park and an inclusive playground.
“ The thing I always like to highlight about this complex is that it’ s not being built by government,” Shafer says.“ It’ s being built by the citizens. All our various committees are loaded with citizens.”
Visit Southern West Virginia’ s ninecounty region is seeing new paths in areas like Needles Eye and Piney Creek. Using the Bandwango platform, Visit Southern has incentivized exploration by offering prizes for visiting sites— first with its New River Gorge, Beckley and Beyond passes and next with craft spirit trails.
“ That has been very successful,” Strader says.“ We kind of pitched that locally first, and it grew from there.”
Ascend Greenbrier Valley is spear-
Photo by Brush Creek Holl’ r.