38th annual Hillbilly Days welcomes hillbillies
0By Makayla Colley
This weekend Hillbillies will descend onto Pikeville for a unique three-day festival of fun, food, music and a big heart for children.
For more than 38 years, Hillbilly Days has been a nationally known event that is celebrated each year on the third weekend of April, but due to Easter it is being held a week later in 2014.
The festival is known as the second largest festival in Kentucky. The annual event brings in more than 125,000 people to Pikeville.
Hillbilly Days is known as a good time. It is an event to spend with your family and friends to bring out your inner hillbilly. Although, this grand event is held for fun it is also held for a good cause. The event is a fundraiser to benefit the Shiner’s Children’s Hospital in Lexington. Shriners hospitals are a one-of-a-kind international health care system of 22 hospitals that are dedicated to improving the lives of children. The money that is raised each year from this festival is essential in funding the cause.
“The Shriners take part in planning the event and also do much of the fundraising during. They sell shirts and buttons, with proceeds going toward the Shriners Hospital. Shriners also donate a lot of time throughout the year in support of the hospital, even serving hands-on roles such as providing children with transportation to the facility,” Jay Shepherd, director of Pike County Tourism, said.
Hillbilly Days was started by Howard “Dirty Ear” Stratton and “Shady” Grady Kinney, two shiners with the Hillbilly Clan Outhouse No. 2 in Pikeville. The two received the idea for the festival after attending the River Day festival in Portsmouth, Ohio. The hillbilly duo invited the different clans to discuss the event.
“Three officers were needed to start a clan: Raban (Shady), Keeper of the Cobb (Dirty Ear), and Guardian of the Steel (Jimmy Kinney),” Jimmy Kinney (Shriner and son of “Shady” Grady Kinney) said.
They contacted Mayor William C. “Doc” Hambley, who severed as mayor from 1960-1989, about the use of the town for the first festival. He said, “It won’t last, but try it.”
Unfortunately, “Shady” Grady Kinney, 75, passed in 2001 but a monument stands in the Pikeville City Park to commemorate his work.
“My father was able to see Hillbilly Days expand into a great tradition. I know that he would be proud to continue to see it growing. Hillbilly Days is an event for a the community and shriners to come to together to have a good time and make money for a good cause,” Kinney said.
The festival offers food, fun and heritage. There are carnival rides, four different stages throughout town with different types of music, more than 250 vendors, craft shows, a corn hole tournament, a parade, the Hillbilly Days’ beauty pageant, and this year Old Crow Machine Show will perform at the Expo on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
The event has such a spectacular turnout that changes are minimal because the people enjoy the event and the festivities for which that the festival is known.
“However, each year some things are added, but the event is never overhauled. A couple of years ago we added a juggler and balloon magician. People identify with what the Shriners and hillbillies are trying to do, and they love having a great time. The character of the festival is charming and festive. I think this is why you see a huge return in attendance each year,” Shepherd said.
The event is coordinated by Hillbilly Clan, 1, Outhouse 2, Pike County Tourism CVB, the Southeast Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, and the Hillbilly Days Panning Committee. “The Southeast Kentucky Chamber of Commerce is always looking for volunteers for assistance with chalking the street and other event-related duties,” Shepherd said.
The “Festival with a Heart” will be held Thursday, April 24 through Saturday, April 26. For more information visit, www.hillbillydays.com or like Pike Tourism on Facebook.