AN ADDITION — Members of the Wellsburg Urban Renewal Authority and Brooke County Area Chamber of Commerce, state and local officials, and many others gathered on Monday for a ribbon cutting for the Almost Heaven swing installed recently near the gazebo above the Wellsburg Wharf on the Ohio River. -- Warren Scott

WELLSBURG — The installation of a unique tourist attraction overlooking the Ohio River and in the city’s Historic District was celebrated with a ribbon cutting Monday by local and state officials.

Members of the Wellsburg Urban Renewal Authority and Brooke County Area Chamber of Commerce were joined by state and local officials, including representatives of the Top of West Virginia Convention and Visitors Bureau, at the site of a new Almost Heaven swing.

Handcrafted by students at the Nicholas County Career and Technical Center, it is one of 52 wooden swings accompanied by a large wooden replica of the Mountain State and placed at various potential destinations throughout West Virginia.

Behind the replica of West Virginia is a built-in selfie station encouraging visitors to take and posts photos on social media using the hashtag #AlmostHeaven.

Alex Weld, who chairs the city’s volunteer Urban Renewal Authority, said the swing is positioned to include behind its subjects, a view of the Ohio River below and potentially, a glimpse of the arched Wellsburg Bridge about two miles south.

Weld said she believes the ability to incorporate the river’s scenic beauty and the city’s historic aspects helped to sell the location to the West Virginia Division of Tourism.

The Urban Renewal Authority applied to the agency for the city’s inclusion in a statewide tourism campaign centered around the swings.

The local board also provided about $3,000 from city funds and money raised by its summer block parties for the cost of the swing and its installation.

Weld noted the swing stands near a monument to Sgt. Patrick Gass, a participant of the Lewis and Clark Expedition who settled in Wellsburg and is buried at Brooke Cemetery on the city’s east side.

The site also is part of the Wellsburg Historic District, which is home to the Brooke County Historical Museum and Culture Center and two bed-and-breakfasts.

Mayor Dan Dudley noted Wellsburg was known for many years as a “Marrying Town,” for a time when marriage licenses could be quickly obtained, and having officiated at one marriage at City Hall, suggested the swing might make a nice backdrop for wedding photos.

“It’s beautiful. A lot of events can happen here,” he said.

“People can learn about Brooke County history just by walking around downtown Wellsburg,” said Rachel Keeney, executive director of the Top of West Virginia Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The regional tourism agency estimated attendance at special events, such as the Wellsburg Applefest, for the application submitted by the URA.

Keeney said the swing will help to bring visitors not only to Wellsburg but to other areas of Brooke County.

“We want to get them out to Brooke Hills Park and Drovers Inn and all of the great things that are in Brooke County,” she said.

She said state officials have determined that tourism generated $9.1 million in the state last year, and she said such a landmark will help to drive that trend locally.

Eric Fithyan, president of the Brooke County Area Chamber of Commerce, organized the ribbon cutting, calling it a great opportunity to celebrate a new way of attracting people to the county.

In recent years, Fithyan and fellow members of the Wellsburg Kiwanis Club have organized the Wellsburg Duck Derby, a street fair in which hundreds of numbered plastic ducks were released into and retrieved from the Ohio River, with prizes from sponsors going to the first several plucked from the water.

Weld acknowledged the support of the chamber, the CVB and the Brooke County Commission, which owns the land on which the swing has been placed.

Commission President A.J. Thomas said, “I think it (the addition of the swing) is great, especially in light of the work the URA has been doing on the Town Square.”

Thomas referred to state and federal funds secured by the board to level loose bricks on the square, add picnic tables and restore a three-story building at one corner.

Weld said renovations to the vacant, once-deteriorating building are nearly complete, and a bakery is slated to open on the first floor in November.

Plans call for the other two floors to include apartment space.

Weld said some funds from the project remain and will be applied to repairs to one of the two adjacent buildings also eyed by the group.