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Marion County has a lot to offer. There's a lot of history here in Marion County. But
Marion County has other things to offer. You've got two state parks here in Marion County
which is kind of unusual for a small county. A lot of the recreation in this area is free.
Things like Valley Falls, you can go there and hike miles and miles of trails or hangout
on the rocks along the river. There's pavillions and things there you can get for large group
activities. Here in Marion County we've got the Tygart River Valley and a lot of that
River Valley has not been seen by a lot of people. They don't realize how beautiful it
is below Valley Falls. East Marion Park, which is our feature park, it houses the Wave Pool,
it's been open since 1977. It was the first wave pool in the state, and it continues to
get a lot of people and also has 6 pavillions and mini-golf and tennis courts and horseshoe
courses and volleyball course, but at the back end of it is our dog park. There's a
lot of people that come up and we're right off the interstate here so they stop off the
interstate, know about it, and bring their dog when they're traveling. A lot of locals
come up here use it day after day. I see a lot of dogs down at the dog park. The disc
golf course is at Morris Park, which is a city park. It's a 36-hole course. It's the
nicest disc course in the state by far. We hold about 4-5 tournaments a year and it's
free to go up there and play at any time. And I suggest any disc golf enthusiast really
need to check out the disc golf course at Morris Park. Prickett's Fort, you know, I
was growing up when Prickett's Fort was rebuilt and the state park made and all that so I've
got intimate knowledge of that from going there from fishing in canoes when I was a
kid and then when they put in the rails to trails you can go from downtown Fairmont all
the way to downtown Morgantown and it's scenic all the way. It's about 26 miles from Prickett's
Fort to downtown Morgantown. I've made the trip multiple times on bicycle. It's a lot
of fun. The rail trail is a great all year long, whether it's scenic beauty in the fall
or cross-country skiing in the winter, horseback riding, just your regular hiking and exercise.
It gets a lot of use. Both the West Fork Trail and the MCTrail are both paved so they're
blacktops the entire length of them too so you also get your rollerbladers and your bicyclists
really like it. In the fall around here it is beautiful as far as the leaves changing
and all that too but the West Fork Trail is right along the West Fork River so you have
a lot of opportunities to view the river and walk down to the river too. It's quite an
experience, you're following the West Fork River. The deer, the turkeys, you just don't
see that in the city life, and I think that's what makes this area unique. We've got a lot
of good outdoor opportunities and we have a lot of programming through the summertime
and year-round programming for the kids in the county also. It's almost like a vacation
everyday here. So that's what I like about living in Marion County.