MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WBOY) — Morgantown’s beloved Wine and Jazz Festival came back to the city for its 30th anniversary over the weekend of Sept. 30 through Oct. 1. The Wine and Jazz Festival took place at its new location, Hazel Ruby McQuain Park in Morgantown.

This year, the festival featured four local wineries, eight artisans and seven local restaurants for attendees to sample and discover.

Hazel Ruby McQuain Park was chosen as this year’s location because of the venue’s recent updates and because it brings the festival closer to the downtown region. The location also gave the festival the opportunity to partner with the city for the weekend-long event.

Keith Jackson, festival board member, and Lauren Metheny, Wine Fest president, said that they noticed more families and older individuals in attendance this year than the college students they regularly saw at their previous location, Camp Muffly.

In an interview with 12 News, both Metheny and Jackson talked about the Wine and Jazz Festival and how it gives back to the community in greater ways than many realize.

“We’re a nonprofit. The money that we raise, we give back to the local community,” Metheny said.

“We’ve given over half a million dollars away from the festival. We have two scholarships in WVU. We also have the Music in the Schools program, where we actually take performances and presentations into for school children, and we actually sponsor that,” Jackson said.

Live music was present from nine different bands from all over the country, including WVU and Marshall’s jazz bands.

Metheny and Jackson said they hope to host this event at Hazel Ruby McQuain Park next year as well. You can keep up with the Wine and Jazz Festival through its website and its Facebook page..