The last, and wettest, festival on my trip was the Autumn Harvest Festival and WV RoadKill Cook-off in Marlinton.
Before I left Lewisburg that morning I checked the radar and could tell that my window for dryly enjoying the festival was very small. It started raining a couple of miles before I reached Marlinton and really started pouring about fifteen minutes after I arrived.
Despite the rain everyone was having a good time. There were lots of arts and crafts to see and roadkill to eat. The only food I sampled was the delicious "Chunk of Skunk Innards" stew by last year's champions, the Roadside Remnants. I also checked out the bear preparation demo for a couple of minutes and bought a souvenir t-shirt.
The last picture is misleading! There was a decent-sized crowd along the street that I thought would make a good "look at all the people despite the rain" photo. I hopped on one of the picnic tables they had set up in the street and carefully extracted my camera while balancing an umbrella between my chin and shoulder. When I looked up the crowd had scattered. I swear!
It was another West Virginia festival with a beauty queen. Sadly, I did not see Miss Roadkill. I wish I could have stayed longer, but I was getting soaked and there was a long drive ahead of me. I'll definitely consider returning next year.
"Bear preparation demo." I just wanted to type that out for myself.
A girl would have to have a great sense of humor and rock-solid self-esteem to put herself in a position where she could be called Miss Roadkill.
Posted by: Dane | 08 October 2009 at 11:39 AM
In searching for a picture of Miss Roadkill I found out that's "Fine Living Network and Food Network personality Adam Gertler" operating on the bear. Earlier in the day he had crowned Miss Roadkill 2009.
Posted by: Joe | 08 October 2009 at 08:10 PM
If you have GI problems this week, don't forget to mention this festival to the doctor.
Posted by: judy | 10 October 2009 at 08:29 AM
A little skunk stew never hurt the GI tract.
Posted by: Joe | 10 October 2009 at 08:37 PM