Photo by Eric Ayres Greater Wheeling Sports and Entertainment Authority Executive Director Kelly Tucker and Production Manager Justin Malarkey pose in front of the newly refurbished Walkway of Stars, which is now on display inside the Capitol Theatre’s lobby.

WHEELING — The Walkway of Stars that for decades greeted concertgoers outside the main entrance of the historic Capitol Theatre in Wheeling have been refurbished and are on display once again — now at a new location inside the theater.

The 50 bronze stars that had been embedded into the sidewalk outside the Capitol were re-installed in a wall display this past week inside the theater’s lobby area.

Each star boasts the name of an artist who was deemed instrumental in what would become the widespread success of Jamboree USA, broadcasting live shows on Saturday nights via WWVA radio.

Nearly two years ago, the stars were removed when the West Virginia Division of Highways’ Downtown Streetscape Project made its way to the front of the theater. Sidewalks were completely torn out, removed and rebuilt as part of the ongoing revitalization project. Before the concrete was jackhammered, however, each star was carefully chiseled out and saved.

“It’s part of the history here in Wheeling and of the theater, so it’s very important,” said Kelly Tucker, executive director of the Greater Wheeling Sports and Entertainment Authority. “We’ve had many fans that were coming in and noticing that they weren’t there. People really noticed it, and they wanted to make sure we were going to put those back on display.”

Wheeling Jamboree dedicated the Walkway of Stars on Oct. 15, 1983 “in honor of individuals who have made major contributions to the success and tradition of Jamboree USA, and country music.” The memorial’s 50 bronze stars commemorated the first 50 years of the legendary radio show which launched in 1933. In its heyday, Jamboree USA could be heard by country music fans every Saturday night across the country and even into parts of Canada. It’s celebrated as the second oldest live country music radio program behind only the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.

Artists featured in the memorial include everyone from local and regional legends to true icons of country music — all of whom helped put Wheeling on the map: Hawkshaw Hawkin, Crazy Elmer and Doc & Chickie Williams have bronze stars alongside renowned artists like Charley Pride, Barbara Mandrell, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Ronnie Milsap, Buck Owens, Tom T. Hall, Loretta Lynn, Conway Twitty, Billy “Crash” Craddock, The Osborne Brothers, The Statler Brothers, Mel Tillis, Grandpa Jones and Tammy Wynette.

Officials said the new location on the wall will help preserve the longevity of the stars, which had experienced extensive wear and tear through weather and pedestrian traffic over the years.

“Just because of the location — so many people walking and the salt really has damaged them,” Tucker said.

“This was one of the projects we had with Adventures in Elegance — Sarel Venter and Bekah Karelis — working on,” said Justin Malarkey, production manager at the Capitol Theater and WesBanco Arena. “They polished up all of these stars.”

Malarkey noted that the restoration professionals still want to highlight lettering that was slightly diminished on some of the stars that had to be extensively polished because of small blemishes caused by years of salt damage.

“There was a fine line between taking too much off to get to that grit but leaving enough so that the letters still pop,” he said.

Adventures in Elegance spearheaded the effort to repair damaged plaster in areas throughout the historic Capitol Theatre, and the restoration of the Walkway of Stars was a natural fit for them. They matched the color scheme from the theatre’s interior for the display’s background and produced a frame from the existing historic trim accents in the lobby.

“They took a mold of the plaster out here and created this so it would match,” Malarkey said. “We’re going to get some lighting on it, too, to lighten it up a little bit better.”

The Capitol Theatre is getting ready to welcome patrons for an array of concerts and shows in the coming weeks, kicking off with two shows this weekend — Aaron Lewis and Vicki Lawrence — that were both nearly sold out heading into showtime. Officials said returning guests to the theater always reminisce about fond memories of past events they experienced at the landmark, and the restored Walkway of Stars is expected to serve as a highly visible conversation piece that will help conjure many of those memories for many patrons.

“When people come to events here now, they always talk about their first time here at the theater, or they’ll bring up the Jamboree USA and times they came with their grandparents, and things like that, too,” said Casey Biela, director of ticketing for the GWSEA venues. “I think it’s just important to keep the storytelling going.”

The Wheeling Convention and Visitors Bureau, which owns the theater, worked in conjunction with the GWSEA on the Walkway of Stars restoration.

“We split the cost on the project — we try to keep every single piece of history from the theater,” Tucker said. “We’re already starting to plan our 100th celebration, which is in 2028.”