CHARLESTON, W.Va. — After a successful first year, Advantage Valley is again giving West Virginians a chance to sample some of the best the Mountain State has to offer.
“Taste of Appalachia” is back with Advantage Valley announcing the program’s 2026 launch on Tuesday at Capitol Market in Charleston.
“We thought this would be a great way to help them access new markets, because the ‘Taste of Appalachia’ program is designed to put together various vendors into gift boxes. We curated gift boxes, and it’s designed for holiday gift giving,” Advantage Valley President and CEO Terrell Ellis said.
The program packages West Virginia-made products into gift boxes with special themes like the Barbecue Box, Breakfast Essentials, and West Virginia Favorites. With over 1,000 boxes sold last year, Advantage Valley is excited to bring more products to market.
“We sold 1,145 boxes, and so we thought that was a tremendous success, and that actually represented over 8,000 units of product that were sold,” Ellis said.
Businesses across the state are taking interest in “Taste of Appalachia” and investing in it. The Thrasher Group bought 700 boxes in 2025 and was recognized for its support of the program.
The producers of included items are part of Faster WV Entrepreneurship, and Ellis believes marketing their wares through “Taste of Appalachia” creates a pathway to growth.
“We hope corporations and individuals will choose to buy West Virginia and send these boxes and products across the world,” she said.
Tuesday’s event is just the start of Advantage Valley’s plans for the program’s second year. Capitol Market is hosting an opportunity to sample “Taste of Appalachia” products directly from vendors on October 18.
“All of the vendors that are going to be participating—and by the way, there’s 17 or 18 of them that are participating. They can come and set up, people can taste their wares, and then people can actually come and purchase boxes at that time here,” Ellis said.
“Taste of Appalachia” boxes are available for purchase beginning on September 15.