A Day at Hillbilly Days
Wednesday night our boss said he’d like to have someone live at Hillbilly Days in Pikeville, KY.
I couldn’t believe it was already time for that festival again!
So, we made some arrangements, packed our gear, and headed south to Pikeville on Thursday afternoon. The event runs Thursday, Friday and Saturday. It’s been going on since 1977, and when they say Hillbilly Days, they mean you’re going to see some “Hillbillies” for a few days!
The event is actually staged by the Shriners clubs, and proceeds go to help the Shriners Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky and also the children’s burn unit in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Many of the people who come to attend and dress in caricature of hillbillies are actually Shriners from various so-called “clans” around the nation. I talked to people from Michigan and Charleston South Carolina as well as local Shriners like my newest friend Jury Huffman who gave me my first hillbilly hat.
Thursday afternoon the opening ceremony takes place at the City Park.
Shriners are recognized from around the nation and some have made it to almost all of the annual events since 1977.
The event stretches over nearly all of the downtown area on various streets.
I was told there are some 300 vendors and I would say 200 or more are food vendors. So if you can’t find a funnel cake, you aren’t looking.
My photographer Chris Holzapfel and myself met a lot of great people in town.
It was nice to also run into fellow meteorologist Brandon Robinson who works at the CBS TV station in Hazard, Kentucky.
Everything was in bloom after a nice rainfall and mild temperatures on the first day of this event.
And the good news is, people did listen to the forecast for the rain as you can see:
Approximately 100,000 people will attend Hillbilly Days in Pikeville. The population is about 7000 people, so that’s about 14 times the population of the town coming to visit over the course of three days. With a percentage of proceeds from all sales going to the Shriners, it’s hoped that as much as $80,000 can be raised to support the Shriners Hospitals.
We had a great day visiting for just a short time! Maybe next year we will swap our news van for something a little more appropriate to ride around in instead.
Thanks for the hospitality Pikeville! And thanks to all the Shriners for supporting the children!
I’m @SpencerWeather on Twitter. Follow me for more weather and local adventure from WV, OH and KY!
