By Tia Rinehart

May 16, 2016 - Carnival rides, the parade and fair food attract the local kids to the Old King Coal Festival in West Frankfort, IL -- but for community members like Donald Ridel, it's a time to celebrate rich history. 

"West Frankfort was built on coal, you know when the coal mines came in the railroads came in back in the early 1900s," Ridel said.

Over the years, those mines vanished. Bringing West Frankfort's population from 20 thousand in 1927, to just 8 thousand today.

Coal activists are pushing for officials to change the direction the coal industry is headed. 

Bob Sandidge has been a miner for 40 years and recently started the Coal Miners Movement. What was intended to be a rally, ended up being a small crowd he spoke to, in hopes to influence festival goers to join him.

"We want to see investments in clean coal technology," Sandidge said. "We want to see the coal industry put on the same playing field as other energy sectors. We want to start a program to educate individuals in society on the positive things about coal."

Illinois coal Association President Phil Gonet said he hopes the festival shows children the importance of coal mining in the small community. 

"These kids today, 8-10 years old, they should know that their grandparents or their great grandparents may have come from europe to work in the coal mines here." 

Gonet and Sandidge both said the only way to get the coal industry to thrive again in communities like West Frankfort, is to work with politicians  -- and make coal a bipartisan issue again.