Fourth annual WV Coalfields Cookoff begins in Welch
welch — The fourth annual West Virginia Coalfields Cookoff got underway Friday in Welch and continues today.
The two-day competition features food, food trucks, street vendors, games for kids and the cooking competition.
Most of the activities are being held in the area of the Martha Moore Park in downtown Welch.
Welch Mayor Harold McBride said the annual event provides family-friendly fun and good food.
'We are bringing in the cookers right now,' McBride said Friday afternoon. 'I think we are going to have 25 pro teams. We've got McDowell Street closed right now.'
McBride said bands would perform Friday evening, and the cooking would continue throughout the day.
'We've got the bands coming in,' McBride said. 'So it's getting kicked off. These guys cook real good. Then it is judged tomorrow.'
Sanctioned by the Kansas City BBQ Society for pro and backyard BBQ Cook Teams, the event has become a tradition in the city.
McBride said officials hope to keep it going for many more years.
'We want to build upon it each year,' McBride said. 'We've got more vendors. We are excited with it.'
The summer cooking competition also provides two-days of fun activities for local residents of McDowell County, according to McBride.
The full schedule is online at https://www.wvcoalfieldscookoff.com/
The Coalfields Cookoff is free and open to the public.
Contact Charles Owens at
cowens@bdtonline.com
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
‘State of Firsts' Review: Trans Congresswoman Sarah McBride Steps Into the Spotlight for a Doc That's More Than Your Average Political Puff Piece
'Representation' takes two forms in Chase Joynt's new documentary, State of Firsts. The 93-minute film, premiering at Tribeca, follows Sarah McBride's quest to be elected to Congress, representing the state of Delaware; as she's aspiring to be in the House of Representatives, she's also on the verge of making history as the first openly trans member of Congress. McBride is proud of both kinds of representation, but she's pragmatic. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'Andy Kaufman Is Me' Review: Solid but Unrevelatory Doc Uses Puppetry to Tackle the Iconic Comic 'Boy George & Culture Club' Review: An Affectionate Look at the '80s Band and Its Flamboyant Frontman That Entertains but Treads Too Carefully 'Sovereign' Review: Nick Offerman's Fierce Turn as an Anti-Government Extremist Boosts a Timely Drama McBride is a joyful trailblazer and a calculating politician, and Joynt's willingness to feature both sides of her personality is what finally makes State of Firsts more than just a hagiographic puff piece. It would have been easy for Joynt and editor Chris McNabb to trim away the 'politician' side of McBride's personality and let her be the uncomplicated icon that many of her supporters will probably want to see represented — that word again — here. Instead, they show an increasingly public figure at a crossroads for her and for the country, and suggest why McBride may have the mettle to chart a career that embraces her various 'firsts' while positioning herself for substantive further chapters. State of Firsts traces McBride's life from mid-2024 to early 2025, as she goes from an already precedent-shattering tenure as a Delaware state rep to a Congressional candidate — only to become one of the most visible figures of the country when Donald Trump and the Republican Party latch onto virulent transphobia as a wedge issue. Joynt begins the documentary with Delaware's own Joe Biden as president, but he has just completed the disastrous debate that became a catalyst for his exit from the presidential race. We follow McBride as she does the grunt work of retail politics, from knocking on doors to opening campaign offices to a debate that her opponent opts not to attend. She pushes back against intimations that she's running as a trans candidate and not a Delaware candidate, promising that her assortment of pet issues — healthcare, paid family leave, economic insecurity — will be relevant to the state where she was born and raised. Still, she knows that the 'first' guaranteed to come up in interviews isn't related to Delaware's state nickname. I don't know how to precisely describe McBride's attitude toward the inevitable trans-themed questions that she faces in every interview, toward the pressure to address issues of identity even in standard speeches, toward the fact that the 2024 Democratic Convention didn't have a trans speaker on the main stage's lineup. It isn't 'reluctance' and it isn't 'exhaustion.' It isn't 'wariness,' but it may be 'awareness' — awareness that no matter how much she says 'I'm running on behalf of the people of Delaware,' there will always be an AND or BUT that gets brought into the discussion. Circumstances, as casual observers of current events know, get even more heightened. After the election, South Carolina Representative Nancy Mace — who responded to her own experience breaking gender barriers at an entrenched institution (the Citadel) by becoming a cartoonish bully rather than developing an iota of empathy — uses McBride's bathroom use as a way to gain her own share of the spotlight. McBride's responses become a referendum even within her own community. It's an open question as to whether Joynt's very presence is a further source of McBride's self-conscious awareness. Despite McBride repeated emphasis that she's a Delaware candidate and not a trans candidate, the director's interest often seems just as trans-focused as that of the media. A rare exception to that angle comes when a constituent wants to engage McBride on issues related to the Israel/Gaza conflict — and even then, it's obvious that while McBride knows her ideological position, this isn't really the issue she wants to talk about either. Long stretches of the documentary feature McBride, Joynt and usually McBride's perpetually anxious campaign manager driving in cars. In those scenes, McBride's answers to the director's questions are thoughtful, passionate and, if you've seen other interviews with her, delivered with consistent preparedness or prepared consistency. Often State of Firsts is a film about a woman doing interviews while she waits to do more interviews. When McBride isn't answering the director's questions and when Joynt is able to fade into the background, the documentary, which asserts little visual style other than fly-on-the-wall presence, is able to witness moments that showcase the unguarded McBride. Family gatherings and backstage meetings show McBride's vulnerability, dorky sense of humor and general passion for the political process. Much more than when she's making statements or espousing messages, it's these glimpses that allow State of Firsts to pack an emotional punch when she fields a congratulatory call from President Biden, hugs a trans constituent, or briefly takes in the joy that her parents and siblings feel as they walk down the hall on her first day at the Capitol. Whether we're seeing McBride the person or McBride the politician, McBride the Delaware rep or McBride the trans pioneer, State of Firsts portrays a young person realizing she can't avoid being all of these things at once — and facing, perhaps for the first time, the idea that she can't be a perfect representative of everything at all times. That's more interesting than if State of Firsts were just a love letter. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 13 of Tom Cruise's Most Jaw-Dropping Stunts Hollywood Stars Who Are One Award Away From an EGOT 'The Goonies' Cast, Then and Now
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
Rep. Sarah McBride Details Unique Bond with AOC Over the ‘Spotlight' They've Both Faced in Congress (Exclusive)
Rep. Sarah McBride tells PEOPLE that AOC is "a friend and someone who I have turned to for advice" during her first term in the House In a powerful conversation with AOC featured in the State of Firsts documentary about her run for Congress, McBride discusses the pressures she faces as the first openly trans congresswoman State of Firsts premieres June 7 at the Tribeca Festival and screens through June11Rep. Sarah McBride has a strong ally in Congress in one of the House's most visible figures: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. McBride, 34, tells PEOPLE that AOC, 35, has been a source of support since she began her first term in Congress in January. McBride, who made history when she became the first openly transgender person to be elected to the House in November 2024, is the subject of the new State of Firsts documentary from director Chase Joynt, which follows her campaign for Congress. In one scene from the documentary filmed after she won her seat as a U.S. representative from Delaware, McBride and AOC sit down in her office for a chat about "firsts." While speaking to PEOPLE ahead of State of First's Saturday June 7 premiere at the Tribeca Festival, McBride detailed her important bond with the lawmaker. "She's definitely become a friend and someone who I have turned to for advice. She entered Congress with a profile that exceeds mine with a lot of attention," McBride says. "And you know, it wasn't always easy for her." AOC made history in 2018 as the youngest women ever elected to Congress and currently represents New York's 14th congressional district. But in her first term, she said she faced backlash for her outfits and was treated like an intern. McBride says AOC's struggles in her first term have strengthened their connection. "I have often gone to her as one of the few people who knows what it's like coming in as a new member, as a freshman and having a spotlight on you that exceeds what most freshmen have," McBride says, noting, "The challenge of navigating a new place, a new workplace with that spotlight, with those attacks, there are very few people who have that experience." During the meeting between the two congresswomen featured in State of Firsts, the Delaware lawmaker tells AOC she's "struggling with protecting my voice and my ability to be seen and heard authentically for who I am and what I am here to focus on, and the inevitable pool that others are trying to pull me in." Ocasio-Cortez nods as she replies, "What people don't see and what they don't really experience is that being the first means being the only." She continues, "The immense amount of expectation placed on anyone who's a first, in my experience, that is not something that goes away." She then becomes heated over critics who have attacked McBride for her gender identity, telling her, "What they go after is your essential dignity as a human being. And, to be frank, that's what really pisses me off about this." "I want to respect your autonomy and I want to respect your story and how you want to handle this for yourself, but I also want to clock these motherf------," she exclaims. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. In a moment also included in State of Firsts, AOC hits back after the House bans trans people from using the Capitol's single-sex bathrooms that match their gender identity, calling the proposal "disgusting" in an interview that first aired on Spectrum News. "All it does is allow these Republicans to go around and bully any woman who isn't wearing a skirt because they think she might not look woman enough,' she says in the interview. While speaking with PEOPLE, McBride says AOC is someone she has "come to rely on for advice," adding, "She certainly has become a friend and I really deeply respect her." State of Firsts premieres at Tribeca Festival on June 7. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
Fourth annual WV Coalfields Cookoff begins in Welch
welch — The fourth annual West Virginia Coalfields Cookoff got underway Friday in Welch and continues today. The two-day competition features food, food trucks, street vendors, games for kids and the cooking competition. Most of the activities are being held in the area of the Martha Moore Park in downtown Welch. Welch Mayor Harold McBride said the annual event provides family-friendly fun and good food. 'We are bringing in the cookers right now,' McBride said Friday afternoon. 'I think we are going to have 25 pro teams. We've got McDowell Street closed right now.' McBride said bands would perform Friday evening, and the cooking would continue throughout the day. 'We've got the bands coming in,' McBride said. 'So it's getting kicked off. These guys cook real good. Then it is judged tomorrow.' Sanctioned by the Kansas City BBQ Society for pro and backyard BBQ Cook Teams, the event has become a tradition in the city. McBride said officials hope to keep it going for many more years. 'We want to build upon it each year,' McBride said. 'We've got more vendors. We are excited with it.' The summer cooking competition also provides two-days of fun activities for local residents of McDowell County, according to McBride. The full schedule is online at The Coalfields Cookoff is free and open to the public. Contact Charles Owens at cowens@
