Another First in Huntington!!

Thank heavens there's a lot going on here to help these last few weeks til my trip move along!  And having my son, Chris, come this weekend for a visit will certainly help too.

But for right now, I'll report on this newest event in Huntington - 'The First Annual Diamond Teeth Mary Blues & Arts Festival".  I find "the first annual" hopeful - means they plan to do it again.  And with the nice turnout that they had, I expect they will.

Diamond Teeth Mary was born Mary McClain in Huntington, WV.  This first picture is of the plaque that they dedicated during the festival which was held at Heritage Station.  It will tell you a little of her background...

Kind of fantastic, isn't it?

Starting at 5:00 p.m., the festival presented five different blues music groups.  The first one was the Huntington Harmonica Club which I've seen performing during the free summer Thursday night concerts at Pullman Square and enjoyed their sound.  They were set up in front of Heritage Station whereas the other groups all performed on a stage behind the station.  Here they are making music...

Later I took a picture of this whole area because it's quite scenic and it was a beautiful evening...

Next on the program was John "The Blues Troll" Taylor - new to me but then I'm not in the know when it comes to the blues.  I know I like Odetta and Luther "Guitar" Junior Jackson but that's because I heard them first on Mountain Stage, a radio program out of Charleston, WV, which is aired on NPR, and ordered CD's. :)

So, here's the blues troll in action:

He was a lone performer, but he sure made a powerful noise!

Next came Maynard Chapman & Black Sedan, a Huntington group.  They were foot-stomping good...

While we're waiting for the next act (tee hee), here's a picture of the area behind the station.  The upper level is where the tea shop and frame shop I mentioned in an earlier post are located and it turned out the tea shop had some good eats for sale so I didn't need to worry about going hungry!  And, Jenks, the framer, was sitting by himself at one of their tables and since everything else was pretty much filled up, I boldly plopped myself down there and was glad to have found a familiar face to visit with.

Heritage Station really is a neat area and I'm hopeful now that the Huntington Parks and Recreation Board has taken over management, it will come back to life. 

They also had vendors located out in the street area, including three West Virginia vintners.  I only managed to have a glass from two of them - had I gone for the third one, I might not have made it home!  Here are a couple pictures of that area:

This first winery is the Wine Tree Vineyards in Vienna, WV.  Their booklet says they are West Virginia's newest winery.  They have a website at www.winetreevineyards.com if you'd like to learn more about them.  The second table is the one that I didn't get to and I'm sorry that I didn't think to at least get their name.  It doesn't seem to be on any of the information I brought home with me.  And the third table is the Vu ja De winery located in Spencer, WV with a website at www.vujadewine.com.  I'd sampled his wine previously at a wine tasting and enjoyed it then and now.  Took my glass back to the table with me and had a truly scrumptious brownie from the tea shop ladies to go with it.

After my little wandering around break, it was time for Liz Pennock and Dr. Blues who, as the program states are a "blues and boogie-woogie duo who performed and recorded with ...Diamond Teeth Mary."  And boogie-woogie is right - Liz plays the keyboard and is all over the place on it.  And, of course, rag and boogie-woogie on the piano/keyboard is one of my great loves, so I really enjoyed their set.  Here's a picture of them "gittin' down!"

There was one more performer scheduled for 9:00 p.m., but I'm afraid I didn't last that long and I think I missed a good one.  He's Nat Reese "The WV Blues Man" who is a Vandalia Award Winner and the 2009 WV Music Hall of Fame Inductee.  But having had that delicious brownie and the second glass of wine, I was ready for home.  It was a real nice evening though and I'm glad I decided to check it out.

And, before I close this, I mentioned in a previous post that I wished I had taken pictures of Hammer's Sandwich Shop and now I have, so here they are.  It's a neat place cause you go down this long, quiet hallway and then wind your way through various little table areas to the deli itself.  Quite attractive really.

This is the owner, Josh Hammer (oh-oh, now I can't remember if it's Hammer or Hammers - I'm sorry...)

And this is the largest eating area - there's another sort of outdoorsy feeling one behind that big arched window and a wee little one around the corner by the pop machine.

And that's it!  Now, it's Sunday evening, has gone back to being a little too hot today, and come this Friday, I'll be driving down/over to Lewisburg, WV to meet up with Chris for his visit.  I better get busy and clean things up a little around here!