The Community, Connections & Commerce Podcast, presented by OUE & St. Clairsville Chamber - Community & Connections Season 2 Episode 13 Nate Goudy of Wheeling Park

Episode Date: February 19, 2026

Hi, everyone. This is Wendy Anderson, and I am coming to you from the WWVA Capitol Theater with Jason Garsick. I'm here. Yes, this is Community Connections. And I think Drake's in the other room. Hi, Drake. Hello. Okay. So today with this podcast, we are introducing Nat Gowdy, who is the director of Wheeling Park. Welcome, Nat.

Thank you very much. I'm so excited to have you here. I've heard tons of things about you, great things, by the way. And Wheeling Park is near and dear to my heart. Mine too. I bet. So I got to tell you, when I was 15 years old, the only place I wanted to work was Wheeling Park. So I had to get a job permit.

So did I? Did you? Yeah. Yeah. So I had to get a job permit. And I got to work down at the pool. And the hot dog, I still smell. those when I smell when the rollers of the hot dogs when I smell that smell that and that the

warm buns oh my gosh I had the best time at the pool I loved it it is fun I don't it's and you also probably got that french fries smell too that yeah everyone knows when you were ice getting because you had that french rice smell on you yeah yep yeah so same with the pool so tell us a little bit so Wheeling Park is celebrating 100 years right yeah so with so next Actually, it's going to be June 1st around there. We'll actually turn 100. So that weekend of May 29th through June 1st, where you are celebrating your 100th anniversary

from a street dinner on the Lake Road. We're going to have a grand picnic with fans, stilt walkers, all kind of food and beverage. The culinary team from Ogilis coming down to participate and help us with this. And then we're going to have, if anyone's ever been out to Wheeling Park, during Fridays, we have what's called Fun Fest Fridays.

Right. Which actually kick off this Friday. Oh, okay. So we'll have, I call it Fun Fest Fridays on steroids. So we'll have live music Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Friday, we're going to have MSN and Eli Moji and the Moji Kings, which are our biggest draws usually for the summer. Absolutely.

Those will be Friday. We're going to have an artisan market up in the White Palace. with local artists showcasing their pieces. Then we're going to have all kind of festival foods around the amphitheater, inflatables for the kids, face painting, which you never know. I might get my face painted. I usually do it once or twice a year for the staff to say, have something to laugh at.

And just it's going to be a great time. Okay. Awesome. So you do this every year. So year after this, you did this last year, too. You had the fun, fresh Fridays, right? This will actually be, I think, our fourth year for it. Okay.

So we started it to just try to get people to come back into Wheeling Park. Sure. Just to make it more activated for the local community. And we started out probably averaging a couple hundred people. And then now we're over 1,000 every Friday. Oh, I bet. It's packed. Yeah.

Like, I was like, okay, we're parking a golf course again, folks. I know my family goes. My kids, my one son and his family every Friday. They love it. They do. They love it. The families come out. It's a good opportunity for, I call it, the tweenary age.

Sure. That come out. They faithfully come out of hundreds of them. And, you know, it's just a really great atmosphere. The team loves it. You know, one of the first things they come. Can I work Fun Fest? Yes, you can work Fun Fest.

Oh, that's fun. Yeah. And it is. You know, our pool will stay open, the Metro Golf paddle boats. So I'll be open for it. It's just a great. Oh, that's wonderful. Community event.

Awesome. When I was a kid, we went to Wheeling Park all the time. That's what we did. And there used to be, what was it, for the birds. Oh, the bird cage. Oh, I loved that bird cage. I love the peacocks. When I was a kid, that's what my first peacock that I've ever saw was in that bird cage.

Yeah. So I'm trying to think that was probably mid-90s. it just got beyond repair and we did they did some investment in the park we did our leg got away with the bird cage because it was beyond repair and it wasn't healthy for the animals that were living in there

we redid our parking lot at that time too and added delights and things like that okay that's when we put in the new water slide too at that time oh yeah I've been down that water slides several times yeah I don't like walking up the hill

no the hill's not fun no it is not You need a pulley to pull old people up. Yeah, the hill's not fun. No, it is not fun. But now this year I noticed you put in a splash pad. Who made that decision to get rid of the kitty pool and why a splash pad? Well, so a couple years ago, we went under renovation with, we got some COVID money, the ARPA money.

And we really did our, some of the things we wanted to do was redo our White Palace, put in a playground, and a splash pad. And so the baby pool just wasn't, people didn't use it. It's not interactive like for the children nowadays. Right. I get that. So we wanted something to be more interactive so the kids would enjoy. Bring the families back to Wheeling Park, the community. So we're actually, you know, it's open.

It's amazing. looking. That's a great idea. Yeah, actually I was playing it over the weekend. But yeah, it's fun. Yeah, it's really nice. Now, is it pool warm? Yeah, actually, we have her heater on.

Do you? Yeah, you can still walk on the water. You know, it's still pretty chilly, but it'll take a couple weeks for it to get up to town. That's what I was wondering, because I know this week is supposed to be, I know we're not going to hear this podcast until fall, but this week is going to be chilly.

It's Murphy's Law. Yeah, of course. the pool opens it's cold out and when we open the ice rink it's warm out yeah so when's the pool open during the year we actually opened so we open the Saturday before Memorial Day so we try to get those end of the year school picnic so we open this past Saturday okay um and then we have some school groups this week that are out just celebrating that last week of school um and they're out enjoying the park so we think we have school groups every day this week and then you'll go until September Labor Day okay Labor Day awesome now we'll reduce our hours probably

mid-August because the kids are usually back in school and you know college kids are leaving away yeah yeah just so we're safe so could you speak a little bit about the history of Wheeling Park I know it we're coming up a hundred years so yeah we are we do turn a hundred years so back in 1924 prior to that Wheeling Park was owned by a local German brewery down from South Wheeling and he was selling the property and local community leaders decided well what do we do with this you know we'd like to keep it recreation so they tried to raise funds once it didn't work so they tried to do it again and it was in beginning of December of 1924 so they raised enough money in two

weeks so it was 350,000 dollars I'm not sure what that equates of the days ago but probably a couple million at least and it was either going to be a residential neighborhood or was in maintained a city park so we they raised the funds to keep it a city park and in the headlines on Christmas Day, it was a gift to the citizens of Wheeling. Oh, okay. Yeah, so that's how the Wheeling Park was created. Okay.

And then a few months later, the Wheeling Park Commission was created. Oh. That was supposed to oversee the Wheeling Park. So it was a nonpartisan government group that sees it, you know, was pointed by the Chamber of Commerce or appointed by the city council, some leaders. So how?

does ogleby we're all one we're all under the Wheeling Park Commission okay okay so okay we go back and forth all the time you know um for example this weekend is the big barbecue festival right we'll send staff up there to help oh so you share staff yeah absolutely okay that's the only way we make it work yeah you know what i mean and then they're going to come down the following week and help with our 100 celebration so yeah we interchange a lot you know that's the only way you can get done you know okay so Wheeling Park to me is the community park does that sound is that right i do it i call it the mother park i like to poke fun at Ogleby because we were here first i mean i love ogleby don't get me right i love and i'll have you know someone from ogleby on but

wheeling park to me is just i don't know i i it's my community park it's where you grew up yeah it's where you're first draw exactly where you saw the peacock it's where you yes you served your first tut-dog and smelled like french fries for a year right and it's the first place i saw wild cherry oh yes because the old white palace before they did the renovations was open air was open air yeah i lost a shoe i i know but i mean that's what we did as teenagers we got to go to the park dances on wednesday nights yeah yeah the park dances that's i can remember wednesday and friday i can remember all three floors the ice ranked the teen center yes and the ballroom packed to the hill. Wow. Oh, yeah. And yeah, those were good times. And you also used to have, well, I think

the Chamber of Commerce used to have the Home and Garden Expo. Yes, they did. Right. They was there for a number of years. Yeah, I liked it there. Yeah, it was a great time. It was. I can understand that when they moved it, because it wasn't for the vendors. It was like, you know, this is our prime season, which is the spring. Yeah. So I totally understand. I get it. Yeah. Yeah. But I remember going there and I remember getting a yardstick how weird is that that I even remember a stupid yardstick that I remember getting oh I can remember that I can remember the car show that the wheeling shaver used to put out there and they do still a number of events at wheeling park we just had the Athena awards out there yes we're going to have lunch with leaders coming up here shortly okay so there are a lot of things

that you know they still do and keep involved with Wheeling Park it's it's great so the caterers do you have your own caterer on staff yes so prior to we had a catering one of the things that I wanted to do was bring on a professional chef oh so when we dinner renovations we brought on a professional chef he does amazing work you know he took some of the stuff that we did before and does it with you know what I say fresh foods it's just amazing okay you know I'm not allowed to go in the kitchen because I use a lot oh but no he does a fantastic job it's totally a game changer for us when he came on board.

Okay. So Jason and I were talking this morning just before we started. And I said, we were talking about you coming on. And I said, when's the last time you went to Wheeling Park? And Jason? And I said, actually, my wife and son and I, we drove out there not too long ago. I wanted to show my wife where it is. And she was like, wow, I never knew that this was here.

And to be honest, I haven't been back in there for many, many years. And in fact, it brought back a lot of memories. In the pool, I was like, whoa, wait a minute. I was there. I've been there before. Going way back. Didn't realize where I was at the time, you know, being that young. But I was like, wow, this is such a great gem, you know.

And we want to bring her son back to the playground. The playgrounds look awesome. Yeah. Yeah, so I've been there at Wheeling Parking itself for 38 years. And I've seen a lot of the renovations, you know. So this is my third iteration of the White Palace. Oh, okay. So when we were kids, the all open air, they put the windows in and did it.

Now I'm under the third. So, I mean, we got a lot going on. There's been a lot of projects going on in the last couple of years. I mean, just tons. Yeah. You know, we're just finishing up. Several projects that were all happening at once. So it's just a lot.

Now, you guys, so what about the stone built? Is it called the stone room or stone building? Yeah. So the stone building right now is Wheeling Country Day started a middle school program. and they needed a place to do it. And so they lease out the rooms. And it's actually kind of unique to see the students, you know, for example, studying Shakespeare underneath a tree.

Or they might do, they might be out doing math in the park. You know, they'll do different projects just, you know, in nature and around the parks. It's fun to watch, you know, it's really, you know, just another added thing that happened to Wheeling Park a couple years ago. Wow. So I wish I had that in school if I could go out. Yeah, I wish I would have had that. I haven't been there for now. I haven't been to the stone room for years.

I really haven't. So have you, is it renovated? Do you have classrooms? Is that? So they use, they have classrooms. They have tables in there. Okay. They use all three rooms for different for their science math or whatever.

And they got tables set up. They got projectors. Wow. They got the whole nine yards. So you also have golf there, the, in the back end? Yes. So in the back of the building is our golf and indoor tennis shop. So we're just finishing up our indoor tennis season here a couple weeks ago.

You can still play during the summer months, you know, on a rainy cool day. You know, it's not air condition. So sometimes it gets a little hot in there. But your bubble, you have a bubble. Yes, we have a bubble. That's the big white. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. So it's unique. It's sold up by air. There's no real structure to it. So anybody, I mean, so you have tennis. year round. Yeah, we have tennis year round. We have six outdoor courts and four

indoor courts. So if you want to play tennis, you can do it all year round. Oh, we do. Now, do you have pickleball? We have pickleball on the ice rink. So we a couple years ago, we got a multi-purpose flooring. So we do have four pickleball courts that are lined out there.

I will tell people the ball doesn't bounce like it normally does on a pickleball court. We knew that going in, but you know, we're looking for ice skating and it's a multi-purpose flooring so there's not ice skating but roller skating. Sure.

The hockey league Waha uses it for training or they'll run practices or games during the summer months and so that's building up and that's just another added attraction at Wheeling Park. Wonderful. And then speaking about the ice rink when is it open? So we

open the ice rink is usually depending how many Fridays there are in October it's either the third or fourth Friday in October. Awesome. Oh, that's early. Yeah, so we'll go from the third Friday in October until the second Sunday in March. Wow, that's a long. That's wonderful.

It is a long season. Yeah. But I will tell you, so when you start thinking about hockey, they actually, their seasons start late August, September. It's tough to do that, but, you know, they have West Banko Arena to do that. Or they go up to, you know, they'll get some ice in the Pittsburgh area. But so no, and it's full all the time. You know, on a typical Saturday hockey practice will start at 6.30 in the morning and between hockey practice figure skating, public skates, our ice will end at 1230 at night. Wow.

So it gets a lot of usage. That's fantastic. Wow. I didn't realize that. I didn't realize the season was that long. Yeah. That's really interesting. So let's talk about the dog park.

Oh, they've got the two dog parks. Yeah. So we put that in. It's amazing. People are there. I mean, before dawn breaks. Yeah.

We closed it a little bit. We're getting to reopen it. We had to do some grass repair, get some new grass in there and things like that. So we're getting ready to reopen that back up. But, yeah, people would go in there in the middle of night if we could, you know. Yeah.

Wow. But it dawned to dusk. It's always three or four dogs in there. Yeah. We used, I've used it. I've taken my dogs. And they love it. They really love it.

And it's really nice. I like it because it's where it's situated. It's kind of, it's kind of off on its own. It's not like, I mean, it's visible from the street or from the road. But I just like where it's located. Yeah, right behind the way palace. Yeah. If you come in, you know, you can pull down right behind the white palace and there's some parking there.

And it's nice. So there's always, like I said, there's always a handful of people in it constantly. Are you guys there going to be any upgrading to it like at this moment I'm going to say no but we're always looking to enhance everything we do you know always to take that next step to make it better for the community okay and you have a small small dog side and a large dog side right correct yeah and you also offer water yes so there's water there for them so yeah so we added some mulch right in the beginning if you remember how rough it looked yeah and it's like well nothing's ever going to grow there so we just got some mulch made a nice little area for the dogs to you know yeah it's it's it's a nice dog park so um as to what you said you alluded to the the playground oh that just fin that was just that's a construction was just finished right yeah so we opened the playground last year uh-huh um and if anyone remembers our old playground you know night and day yeah oh yeah yeah so it's amazing and it's another area just like the dog park i mean i try to get our staff to go down their first thing in the morning at

seven of morning i'm like oh no there's like 15 people on on already oh wow so you know we're trying to clean it up yeah yeah get everything you know the mulch back in and everything like that but it's one of the largest accessible playgrounds in the park or no state so wow yeah it's awesome wow yeah so there's something for kids of every level to do there is you know they run around it's it's just non-stop I like it I think it's really cool I I was just there not too long ago I always took my grandkids to the old one and that was that was challenging that was that was challenging sometimes because some things are broken or just weren't working or they were faded but this one it's in the

next level it's beautiful oh thank you it is and I can tell people it's what the old one people quit making the parts especially after COVID and it's just like okay folks we really got to do something here yeah I got you and you know it's hard to find parts or you're trying to have people manufacture them and but now what we got now is just amazing it really is yeah it's just And it's hard to just to get down there and clean Because there's so many people usually I bet I mean that's a good problem to have

It is a good problem to have It really is Yeah So you also have Put Putt So we have also down The Lake area is our manager golf And our paddle boat area

The mentor golf We just freshly painted the boards up We're working on projects To try to get that redone Oh okay Cool So we're going through the processes Now of looking for funding

And things of that nature And the paddle boats, we just bought some themed boats. There's a pirate boat, duck boat. And we have like a small concession stand there and where you can, you know, get admission on our wristbands for those areas too. Good. Awesome. Okay.

You talked a little bit about funding. What is your primary funding source? So part of our, this is one of the unique things about the park system are in our charter. It says we can't accept tax dollars. So what we have to do is all, you know, people donate money, emission fees.

You know, we have wedding venues or any venue, rooms to rent, and things like that. So that's where we get our funding. You know, we do go after grants and things like that, but we, you know, can't be a burden on the citizens of the Hought County. Right. Okay. Yeah. So is it separate from Ogilby? No.

So, I mean, like the financial part. We're all one. You're all one. Okay. Yeah, everything. Wow, that's unique. Is that unique? It is unique.

I want to say we're probably like that the only one in the world. There might be one or two out there, but yeah, that's one of the unique things that, you know, people, you know, we have the National Institute of Schools at Ogoby, which partners with NRPA and North Carolina State University. We bring people in and we do continuing education programs. And at one point, I was one of the liaisons for the school and I'd be given a tour. I said, now I would ask him, what's your budget for your parks? And they'd be like $150 million and $60 million, whatever. Okay. you get all that tax money every year

and they go, yeah, how much do you get? I said, zero. And that's how we do it, you know, through the fees, the festivals and all that. That's amazing. That's amazing. Wow.

You know, and they're all like, really? I said, yeah, that's just, it's what we do and they're amazed by it. Wow. That's crazy. Yes, it is. Jeez. So who is

the most famous person that has been to Wheeling Park that you know of. Wow. So this is, so Vice President Pence. Oh. Oh, yes.

I remember that. What was that? I don't know. So when him and Trump running the last election, he was actually at a facility doing a stop. And it's actually one of the greatest honors

I have working with the Secret Service or, you know, we've had a lot of, you know, electoral candidates, governor's candidate, it's from all over. sure come to our facility but no vice president pets it was amazing wow yeah I remember having the

secret service thing we need you to move that that sand pile up I said why I said never mind I'll just move it yeah they made you move a sand pile yeah someone could have put something in there that could have been explosive or something of that nature so you know they they don't mess around and it's amazing when the secret surfaces is on property how many more trees you have oh Okay. Yeah. But they're great people to work with. And I think we've had Carrie, too, when he was running for president.

So there's been a lot of people who've come through. And Wild Cherry. Yes, and Wild Cherry. Listen, they were just starting out. Yes, you'd be amazed. I don't know if we remember the Teen Dance revisited. I doubt. You had it on the ice ring?

Yes. Yes. And people talked about all the time. Oh, yeah. Wild Cherry, Wild Cherry. I'm telling you, you need to do that again. So we've tried to bring the T-panses back for the kids and they just don't see. It's a different error.

It is. They're different than we were. Yeah, it's just not their thing. You know, I've done it and tried it and try to get some, you know, the more modern DJs and things like that. But, you know, maybe it's something we'll try again in the future. But right now they just, I'm not sure everything they do except for play video games. See, back then, we didn't have the electronics that we have now. No, I'm sorry.

And we were just talking, we like records. No, we went from Hardee's to DeCarlos to Wheeling Park to Hardies to Carlos. Yes, that's what we did. Yeah, I did the same thing. Yes. But I went to Pizza Villa. Okay. At 29th Street.

Yeah, I love Pizza Villa. That's my favorite pizza. But we were just talking about albums on a turntable. Yeah. That, to me, that sound is there's nothing like it. Oh, yeah. It just really takes me back to my childhood. But today's kids, they don't understand that.

I think actually the vinals are coming back more than of a digital side. So I can tell my daughter's boyfriend is really into collecting old vinals. And he has, I don't know, thousands of them. How many do you have? About 1,200. Yeah. Yeah. See, and I have one.

But that's okay, one. That's okay. It's wild cherry. It's not wild cherry. But I will, if I could find a wild cherry, I would get a wild cherry out. them. Yeah, because I think there's a shop down in, is it down in the center market? What? So, yeah, you can get them down there at an antique shop down there, but then there's even a record shop here in town, too.

Yeah, so I have to tell them about that. Yeah, yeah. What's that called? Neal City. Oh, that's right. It's on top of it is a lockegonia building. What building is that? Above a vagabond kitchen.

Oh, totally. Yeah, yeah. Awesome place. Yeah. But it says today's kids are different than they were back then, and I can understand where maybe a, maybe a oh what do you call it it doesn't work with today's kids

yeah and it's always I'm trying and I'll sit there and talk to the kids when they come and say what do you guys like yeah that's great you know I mean tell us what you want because they're the audience and you know do they give you good idea yeah but they you know like they don't do kickball tour I said we can do kickball tour

okay what other activities are you like you know you guys aren't in the dances now okay you know and and we've tried like the e-sports and things like that, but we did a little tournament and it was good, it was good, but it didn't get the response we thought, but you know, it's always looking

for different things like that and just, you know, willing to try different things, you know, because they're the future, they're the ones who are going to be using the parks and what will make memories for them, so. Yeah, that's true. I never thought about that. What makes them tick?

Drake, what would make you, what would make you go to the Wheeling Park? I can't I could just say the reasons that I have gone most recently the live music last summer I don't know I can't remember who it was but they played a all good songs classic songs they played some Bob Seeger which was really good and then I think just recently maybe a few weeks ago or a few months ago at this point I was there just to take a walk and then stopped inside the building got coffee and so just those kinds of things at least for me is what made it attractive.

And I mean, nothing beats that live music, especially you just go there and we just sat down. You can walk around, still hear everything. It's a really great thing that they have.

Yeah, and also another thing, besides the Fridays, we do a Java James on Monday in our, in our cafe. I didn't know that. Yes.

So we do Monday, Fridays and Mondays, it's live music. What time on Monday? Yeah, I think they started six. Really? Yeah, so we have Java jams.

So like, Like who? Like what? It's just the soloist that comes in and they'll play a guitarist. They'll be in our cafe, which is a we proudly serve Starbucks. Yeah. And they'll just, you know, spend a couple hours playing songs and, you know, sit back, relax. If it's nice out, they'll be out on the patio playing. Okay.

And where can we find a cafe? Is it in the White Palace? Literally. So when you pull into Wheeling Park, you look at the White Palace, you'll see the porch. Okay. The porch there and you walk in. And like I said, it's a we probably serve Starbucks. So that's been a whole interesting thing else trying to learn all these fancy

drinks these kids drink you almost have to be a chemist to do that job I know I'm regular coffee person yeah I don't my daughter like venty this and half that and I don't understand all that stuff I just text me and read my phone when my daughter wants something it's a lot easier instead of me trying to remember but no so yeah so we do Java jams it's awesome you know I did not know that do you do you where would we where would somebody find that information so everything should be on our website I will tell everyone we are getting a new website. Okay.

We're upgrading that to make it more interactive and a little more modern for the community. So yeah, all that information will be on our Wheeling Park website. And if they even go to the Ogilipi website, there's a tab at the top park that says Wheeling Park. So you can get like passes, right? Like wristbands. So yeah, so there's several options.

So we have, if you want to come for a day, you and your family want to come, you can buy all day activity bands. Okay. which will include water slide, swimming pool, splash pad, roller skating, miniature golf paddle boats, outdoor tennis, as much as you can do in today. As much as you can fit in for 1795. Okay. And then if you guys are big users of the swimming pool or ice game, we offer memberships.

Okay. So, and you buy a season pass, and I will tell everyone to do it on a Thanksgiving sale because we do discount rates over that, that, time frame oh that's a neat idea and so you know good Christmas gift yeah it is and the memberships both include Wheeling Park and Obey Park pools or the tennis courts at Ogleby and Wheeling Park then outdoor courts ice skating we have an ice skating so you know for five and a half months you can buy family membership or I think it's around $350 you can come you know whenever it's open for public skate That's really good for anybody.

Yeah. Yeah, and we do child, adults, family memberships. Okay. So, yeah, there's always ways, you know, and if you look at the right time, there's, you know, sometimes it's on sale and you get it greatly reduced. Okay.

Drake, we'll have to remember that Java Jam. Yeah, it's fun. Yeah, I'll have to make sure to get out there at some point. Yeah. Well, Nat, we appreciate you coming on this morning. We appreciate your time and you talking with us. For all information about Wheeling Park, you could go to, I think Ogle Bay you said has a Wheeling Park section. Yeah, so if you go to the Ogilie.com website, there's a tab that says Wheeling Park, or you just go to the Wheeling Park website.

All right, there's that. If you want to reach us, you can do so by email at OUEPodcast at ohio.edu. That's all we have for this episode for Jason Garsick, Wendy Anderson, Nat Gowdy. I'm Drake Watson, saying, have a great day.