The festival stage will move into the courthouse square on Wednesday, September 18th as volunteers begin setting things up for the annual event. Transporting and building the stage requires several hours of hard work and extra volunteer help is needed to accomplish this feat. The stage will be moved in at approximately 4:00 p.m. and help will be needed throughout the evening until about 9:00 p.m. All street parking and meter spaces in the Town of Clay will be blocked off and should be vacated for vendor parking beginning at approximately 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September 18th from the former IGA parking lot to the Clay County Bank including meters in the alley between Rite Aid and Prestera and the Town’s alley between the Clay PSD office and the Historic Courthouse. The festival will use the Courthouse alleys on both sides of the building and all parking spaces and alley ways should be vacated at or near 4:00 p.m. on September 18th . As the amusement rides arrive, the stage is readied, and vendors are moved into place we appreciate everyone’s patience and cooperation as the festival begins preparing these areas for the County celebration.
There’s something incredibly powerful about a dream, and for Kayla Slone, that dream came true. ABC News reporter Steve Osunsami, on site at the Grand Ole Opry (Logan, WV) It started at the checkout counter at a Walmart store deep in the foothills of West Virginia, where Kayla Slone would happily sing to her customers while working the register at the checkout counter. One of those customers whipped out a smart phone and shot a video of Kayla’s authentic Appalachian crooning to later post it online. That brief clip of Kayla singing to customers soon went viral, garnering hundreds of thousands of views worldwide. Now, this young wife of a coal miner from the West Virginia-Kentucky border region, previously best known for the Hatfield-McCoy feud, has seen the combination of old country classics and new media propel her into the national spotlight.
A local ABC reporter saw the video of Kayla’s heartfelt rendition of Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire classics online, found her still singing at WalMart and did a story about Kayla for the evening news. That video soon made its way to ABC World News Tonight’s Diane Sawyer, who featured Kayla’s story on her national evening newscast. Grand Ole Opry executives were watching, and soon Kayla was standing on hallowed ground, receiving a standing ovation from the sellout Opry crowd while ABC filmed it all for yet another national news story. Making the night especially poignant; it was the first time David, Kayla’s hard working coal miner husband, had been able to see her perform. What a first impression! Kayla will perform at the Golden Delicious Festival on September 20 at 8:30 p.m.
Opening the stage for Kayla will be Clay County born, Farrah Crane performing with her friends “Charlie Absten and Distant Thunder“. Farrah has won dozens of singing contests over the years and has performed with bands in West Virginia and Nashville, TN. When asked to sing for the festival this year, she was excited; she loves to sing for her family and friends in Clay County. Keeping mountain traditions alive, she and her mom, Valerie Facemire, have been performing with the Appalachian Cloggers for several years. They will be dancing on Saturday afternoon with Lou Mauiri and the rest of the dance troupe.
Forty hours of music and dancing will be performed over the four day festival event including four marching bands: Clay County High School Marching Band, Clay County Middle School Marching Band, and a concert and parade performance by the Charleston Metropolitan Band. There will be bluegrass, gospel, southern rock, a mountain string band, and country music all performed live from the stage and all concerts are free.
Visit the festival website for details about the Clay County Golden Delicious festival at www.claygoldendeliciousfestival.com or find our blog on Facebook at Clay Golden Apple – Festival. The festival will open September 19th at 6:00 p.m. and continue through Sunday, September 22nd.
