June 23, 2025 - It was blazing hot on Saturday in Madison, but that didn’t deter people from coming downtown to enjoy the last day of the 31st West Virginia Coal Festival.

A dog show was held from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. before a parade took place starting at 3 p.m. that went from Scott High School to People’s Bank.

Free mechanical bull rides and train rides were held from 3:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and there was also a rock wall. A carnival opened at 4 p.m., and food vendors were set up everywhere.

“We shut them down all week long,” Hudson said. “I know they get aggravated with not having business. All they had was split traffic. So, if it weren’t for our businesses to let me shut them down and leave them a little small opening to their business, they’ve been very positive, and I hope they intend to do that in the future because we cannot do it without them.”

Jim Clendenen is a retired coal miner from Peabody Coal and is also the equipment director of the coal festival.

He’s a board member of the festival and has been since it started 31 years ago. He, along with the other board members, are volunteers.

“This brings a lot of coal miners together,” Clendenen said. “We get a lot of older coal miners. We call it a coal miner reunion here because you have the most updated equipment, and a lot of the guys haven’t even seen anything like it, and they want to know what it is. That’s rewarding. The most rewarding thing I get out of the equipment display is the people that are working at the mines.”

Like Hudson, Clendenen also thought the festival went well this year.

“It’s always slow on Wednesday during the day and evening, then the evening picks up, and Thursday evening picks up a little better,” Clendenen said. “Friday evening picks up really good and Saturday, it really picks up. That’s what we’ve had since I’ve been here on the equipment.”

Clendenen acknowledged that there are some outstanding people on the board, and he said Hudson does a great job as president.

“We just have a lot of good, hardworking people,” Clendenen said. “We want this heritage to go on. We just had a super-good parade. It was just as good as ever and bigger than it’s probably ever been. We have a lot of participation from not just coal miners but a lot of coal miner supporters that show up here.”