WHEELING –The Viennese Winter Ball and Cotillion, a highlight in Wheeling for more than four decades, has taken its last turn around the dance floor.

The gala event, a fundraiser for the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra that had lasted for 44 years, is finished, the ball’s executive committee announced Thursday morning. The rising costs of producing the event was the main factor in ending the ball, said executive committee chair Paula McClure.

“After last year, we knew things either had to change or we couldn’t go forward,” she said. “And it’s the rising cost of just about everything – whether it’s flowers or whether it’s the venues or whether it’s candles.

“And to go forward, to be fiscally responsible and successful and leaving it at the same level where we were, we just couldn’t do it,” she added. “That’s why we decided it would be better to end on a highlight.”

Co-founded by Sheila Barrett and Joan Robbin, the ball was patterned after grand balls the two experienced in Vienna, Austria. Many of those traditions remained part of the ball throughout its history. Among the highlights each year was the cotillion, which featured 20 high school seniors throughout the Ohio Valley, 10 young men and 10 young women dressed in tuxedos, ball gowns and white gloves, who treated guests to a formal dance.

Those students, and many others who were part of the ball each year, were volunteers for the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra. McClure said that she’ll miss working with them each year.

“Definitely the kids,” she said. “They’ve done a great job over the years and that’s something we’ll miss. We loved working with them. They were always a great group of kids and we will miss them.”

The ball has been a major fundraiser for the WSO, generating hundreds of thousands of dollars and giving more than 600 students the opportunity to participate. That was through the work of hundreds of volunteers over thousands of hours throughout the ball’s history, McClure said.

McClure said the committee has not yet discussed any possible new fundraisers, but all of them will miss their time working on the ball.

“There have been a lot of decisions back and forth,” she said. “The ball was beautiful, we had a great time and the volunteers have been just super for us. We just decided the best thing to do was end on a high note.”