The West Virginia Handcrafted Cooperative is a unique maker market that brings together incredible products, food and handmade items from across West Virginia and beyond.



Think of an Etsy shop in real life. Megan, the founder, does an amazing job of curating a wide variety of talent and items for these markets.



What I especially love about this market is that these are products made with love that are often times rooted in West Virginia culture - these are unique items that you can't find anywhere else.

"Most items we purchase today are mass produced from large businesses. The Handcrafted Cooperative offers a seasonal retail market dedicated to handmade items created by the most talented independent makers in our area. We help improve our local economy, support small business, and keep our community unique." - Handcrafted Cooperative website

  

Pepperoni roll pins? Visit Liz Pavlovic Design.
Mothman print? See Champaign Paper.
West Virginia notecards? Look no further than Wildflower Studio.
Coffee mugs? Hit up Wild & Wonderful Lifestyle Co.

And the food here is next level. From drinks to snacks and treats, the Handcrafted Cooperative is a one-stop shop for local product and food.

I took a little food tour of the market to share some of my favorite finds.

FIRST STOP: Ridge Roasters Coffee

This is a local coffee roasting company based out of Morgantown. You can often find them around town doing pop-ups and it's the perfect way to get your day at the market started.



NEXT UP: The Neighborhood Kombuchery

Kombucha is a beverage produced by fermenting sweet tea with a culture of yeast and bacteria. I've had this in a few different variations, but the small-batch kombucha from the Three-Toed Snail folks was a perfect balance of sweet and tart. I ended up taking a growler full of the Orange-Ginger flavor, with cinnamon, all-spice and star anise.



THEN, TIME FOR A SWEET TREAT: Mountain Spun 

Have you ever had homemade cotton candy? If you haven't, you're seriously missing out. Mountain Spun featured birthday cake, fruity pebbles, apple cinnamon and pumpkin spice flavors. AND, she was spinning cotton candy live. Take a look:

This was pumpkin spice - got to get in the fall spirit! And, I took a tub of fruity pebbles home. Perfect for a treat.





LUNCH TIME: Eggs Will Roll

Owner and operated Kayla Young, one of my besties, churns out some of the tastiest egg rolls this side of the Mississippi (or anywhere?).

She always has a rotating list of flavors. Today's included buffalo chicken, street corn, Thanksgiving, mac & cheese, pepperoni roll and more. My choices were buffalo chicken and Thanksgiving. You can't beat it.


SNACK TIME: Dina Colada's

Finally, my last bite was at Dina Colada's where you can get bubble tea, coffee drinks, mac & cheese, salads and sandwiches.

So, I went for a small mac & cheese and a strawberry bubble tea.


Plus, I got a ton of great goodies from amazing makers to take home. What kind of goodies did you score?

A new Mexican restaurant opened in St. Albans: Cali Tacos.

This restaurant features tacos, burritos, nachos, etc. But they have some "house plates" and other specialty items.

But I saw taquitos on the menu, and it stuck out to me. AND Mexican corn. So I put in an order for both of these to go.

Meanwhile, I took in the ambiance. There is a cool vibe here with the dark chalkboards and pop of rainbow colors.

After a bit, my food was ready. I took it home and dug in.

Mexican corn is one of my favorite discoveries of my 20s, and I will order it every chance I get.

And these taquitos were full of chicken tinga and topped with lettuce and queso fresco.

What's your favorite thing here?

K-Bo's Ice Cream is a Danville staple. The ice cream shop was a welcome sight on a hot August day for me.

They have a deli entrance, where you can get all sorts of goodies.

But I went to the ice cream counter to get my fix.

While everything looked delicious, I went with the one topped with peanuts and hot fudge! A take on the Peanut Buster Parfait is just perfect sometimes.

Have you been?

Castlerock Restaurant has been on my list to try forever. It was on an older list of must-try restaurants, and it's the only one I hadn't marked off - until now.

The restaurant is located in Jesse between Pineville and Oceans in Wyoming County. They're known for beans and cornbread, but the menu has a good bit more than that: pizzas, salads, dinners, sandwiches and more.

The thing that stuck out to me was the pizza roll. I didn't know exactly what it was but color me intrigued!

While waiting, I took a look around the space which had some locals gathering for lunch and chat about what's going on in the community.

So the pizza roll is essentially a toasted hoagie roll topped with cheese, mushrooms and pepperoni.

Granato's Deli is a cool shop in Weirton that has all the tastiest foods.

If you're looking for local peppers or olives, they got 'em. 

Types of pasta that may not be in your local grocery? Yep.

Italian cheeses? Oh yes.

Even prepared salads? Absolutely. I went for a pasta salad with sun-dried tomatoes and rigatoni.

I could live on pasta salad, I think.

What's your favorite thing here?