The Appalachian Music Festival makes the Town of White Hall sing for the fifth year in a row this Saturday, July 11 from 4-10 p.m. at the Middletown Commons, bringing together local families, musicians and businesses to celebrate history.
This year’s events include bands System Buckers, Davisson Brothers Band and Bill Taylor and the Appalachian Heathers, who were featured on “America’s Got Talent” last year.
The festival will feature a Kids Zone, a cornhole tournament and food trucks, concluding with an annual fireworks show, according to the Town of White Hall website.
West Virginia native and mayor Jason DeFrance thanked the sponsors for the event, including Harry Green 7 Acres, Wilson Martino Dental of Morgantown, and First Exchange Bank for making the festival free for all.
Jason said he hopes this year’s event will be greater than ever, as it has flourished every year since its inception.
“It just grows every year, and we’re hoping that’s our goal, is just to keep growing it and to keep being able to provide something to the community,” he said.
Jason said the festival was born out of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it grew into its “Appalachian” roots three years ago.
“The first year was just kind of providing the music,” he said. “We were searching for our niche in it. We had a lot of random acts in the beginning, which was fine, but then we really tried to hone it on something and be known for something specific, try to build off it, and this just seemed like the right area to do the Appalachian-style.”
Jason said that all the money raised from the event will go back into the town, and that planning for next year begins almost immediately.
Jason explained that the Appalachian Music Festival is the perfect opportunity for people to visit the town who haven’t before. He said he’s been to the event every year, and it touches him to see how the community rallies together.
“People realize that ‘Hey, we got stuff here,’ and for everybody that’s never been here, it’s a great thing,” Jason said. “For the people that live here, it’s nice for them to have an opportunity just to go do something that doesn’t cost anything.”
Jason prided the Town of White Hall on its representation of West Virginia as a whole, filled with people who stick up for one another at all times. He said the Appalachian Music Festival provides much needed reprieve for the hard work that goes into maintaining the community throughout the year.
“As a town, we have certain responsibilities, you know, we have to maintain roads, we have to do certain things, but then it’s nice to be able to say ‘Hey, we’re going to do something just for us,’” Jason said.
