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MARTINS FERRY -- An annual event named for a heroine of the Revolutionary War is coming back to the Purple City from Aug. 2-5.
Held at the City Park at 401 S. Fourth St., Martins Ferry Volunteer Fire Department's Betty Zane Days always features local vendors serving up crowd favorites. For example, in 2022 Martins Ferry American Legion members Joe and Jane Klug were at the organization's food stand with its "famous Legion fries."
"We're bringing back the Legion fries at Betty Zane Days," Jane Klug said. "We do that through the week and on our fish frys also. ... It's the Legion recipe."
The Martins Ferry Lions Club is also active during the festivities with a food truck doing brisk business. Club President Kayla Shreve said the taco in a bag is very popular with festival-goers.
The festival was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But Fire Chief II Ron Hilton said more rides were featured in 2022, including a mechanical bull ride and a wall-climb.
In addition, the festival features a 5K run/walk, a firefighter water battle, amusement rides and games, food and craft vendors, as well as nightly entertainment.
The festival's namesake, Elizabeth "Betty" Zane, is known as the heroine of the Battle of Fort Henry, so it is fitting that the festival that today bears her name has been run by hometown heroes of the fire department for the past 22 years.
Betty Zane Days was launched in Martins Ferry to commemorate Zane's courageous act during the Revolutionary War, when it is said that she braved enemy fire in 1782 to retrieve gunpowder for the defenders of Fort Henry at the site of present day Wheeling. Zane later married and moved to Martins Ferry, where she iand several family members are buried at Walnut Grove Cemetery.