27th annual John Henry Days offers a fun and unique weekend to celebrate southern WV

TALCOTT, WV (WVNS) – From Friday, July 12, 2024 through Sunday, July 14, 2024, the 27 ^th annual John Henry Days will be taking place at John Henry Historical Park in Talcott.

This annual tradition celebrates the legend of John Henry; a story about a man who was allegedly helping develop the Great Bend Tunnel.

When a machine was brought to take the place of human workers on this project, John Henry allegedly raced and beat this machine.

This extraordinary feat of human strength would supposedly lead to Henry’s death.

President of the John Henry Days Committee, Pamela Lewis explained that John Henry Days originally started because of a postmaster named Bill Dillon. “He pushed and pushed and pushed and got signatures and petitions to get a John Henry stamp. The year the stamp was issued, there was a ceremony to unveil it and there was a get-together and that was of the beginning [of John Henry Days].”

This celebration spans Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at Talcott Henry Historical Park in Talcott.

Throughout the weekend, there will be different activities offered like musical performances, a foam party, a bouncy house, and blacksmithing, along with a parade that goes from Talcott Elementary to John Henry Museum and Gift Shop on Saturday.

There will even be fireworks after the concert on Saturday.

There will also be a church service and a car show that takes place at the park on Sunday.

Lewis told 59News how important celebrating Henry’s legend is for all Southern West Virginia. “It’s for all of us. We’ve grown up with [the story of] John Henry. It’s a sense of pride, a source of community that everybody gets involved and everybody has a lot of fun.”

The festivities begin Friday, July 12, 2024 at 5:00 P.M.

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