WHEELING, W.Va. — Citizens of the Upper Ohio Valley will have a chance to cool off Wednesday evening with free Ziegenfelder twin pops.
The nationally known ‘Budget Saver’ twin pops will just be part of the Wheeling-based Ziegenfelder Company‘s ‘thank you’ event to the area following support from a late January fire that ravaged through part of its plant.
“The whole community, the whole state of West Virginia and surrounding states came together to support us. It was overwhelming just the generosity of everyone so we wanted to give back,” Jamie Wilson, Executive Assistant at The Ziegenfelder Company.
The event that features music, games, and food gets underway 4 p.m. at Wheeling’s Heritage Port, just a few blocks from the company’s facility.
Two bands will begin around 4 and perform until 10 p.m. while the kids’ activities will last until 8 p.m. Those activities include face painting, inflatable rides, and games, clowns with balloon animals, appearances from superheroes and princesses with photo ops and free food such as hot dogs and pizza.
Everything is free, including those popsicles out of an 18-wheeler truck featuring the dozens of flavors that Ziegenfelder is known for producing.
The fire destroyed a production room and main office space leaving the Wheeling plant unproduceable for three weeks following the accident on January 31.
Wilson said the community rallied behind the popular company, raising money and giving food for employees without work.
“We are producing above and beyond expectations,” she said.
“We are down two lines here in the Wheeling facility, we have started construction in a three-phase construction that will go on for a lengthy time. But we were down for three weeks and that was it.”
Wilson said that the company is thinking of having a yearly ‘thank you’ event for the years of support.