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The
Historic Town of Matewan hosted it's 6th Annual Homecoming Friday,
September 29 thru Sunday, October 1, 2000. Friday's festivities
began with the Magnolia Excellence Award Banquet held at the Herbert B.
Akers community center in Red Jacket. This years banquet honored
five of Matewan's finest Magnolia/Matewan High School students.
Congratulations to Glenna Stacy, Aileen Phillips, Alvin Warf, Glen David
Kirk, and Herbert B. Akers. Downtown festivities also got under way
Friday night at 9 p.m. with Eddie Nenni and the Jaguars. Clifford
Whitt and his Matewan Dance Studio danced the night away in downtown
Matewan with the Jaguars until midnight.
Saturday mornings festivities began at 8 a.m.
with the Hatfield & McCoy Auto Show. The Rotary Club of Matewan
also began at 8 a.m. with their traditional pancake breakfast in front of
city hall. The 4th Annual Hatfield & McCoy Auto Show was a full
day event lasting from 8 a.m. until trophy presentations at 4 p.m.
The Auto Show welcomed the Citgo Nascar Racing Simulator to the show for
the first time with over 100 participants testing their skills at driving
a Nascar simulator at over 200 m.p.h.
One of this years major treats at the
Matewan Homecoming 2000 was the debut of the long awaited Matewan Massacre
Re-enactment which was directed by Bridget Call & produced by Bill
Richardson. Bill & Bridget worked hard for several months
bringing together a cast of local people to create the re-enactment of the
now infamous gun battle between Baldwin-Felts agents and local coal miners
which occurred in Matewan on May 19th, 1920. The re-enactment took
place on the street in front of city hall at 2 p.m. Saturday. The
play drew hundreds if not thousands of spectators and by all accounts was
a huge success. Plans are already under way for future
presentations. Great Job Bridget!!
This years homecoming also hosted one of the
largest street fairs on Mate Street in historic Matewan, with over 45
vendors participating. All types of activities took place on the
streets of Matewan from a Jumping Jupiter located across from BB&T
bank, a Clown show at city hall, storytelling in the Matewan Depot, to a
hopping good time from entertainers on the town square stage.
Entertainment was provided by such acts as Kayla Carter, the Grace Gospel
Singers, Michelle & the Revivalmen, Bobby Fletcher, Joe Moore, Calvin
Clark, and Lauren West & Friends. Saturday evening rounded out
with a community block party hosted by WBTH/WXCC radio along with the
Rotary Club of Matewan hosting Bingo in the fire hall.
Homecoming was not over Saturday but continued
Sunday with a full day. Sunday's festivities began at 1 a.m. with
the Banquet of Christ, an inspiration of the Matewan Area Community Action
Team President Betty Charles. Betty's vision for this year's banquet
was to bring the community together to celebrate the town's birthday
through Christian fellowship. The fine folks at Buskirk/Gilbert
Foodland also shared Betty's vision by providing 200 free chicken &
dumpling dinners for those that attended. A special thanks is
extended by Betty to all those who participated, with a very special
thanks going to the Full Gospel Church of Matewan for hosting the dinner
and providing all of the entertainment for a great afternoon!
Below you will find addition information and
photographs of the weekend's events. Please take a little time to
enjoy this section. Your comments, questions, and feedback are
always appreciated by e-mailing us at matewan@a-aautoparts.com. |
