 |
The
11th Annual Festival!
2009
October Sky Festival
October 3, 2009.
Hope to see you there! |
Reach
for the Stars Rocket Contest
Deadline to enter June 15, 2009 or August 15, 2009 (See below)Enter
your kids into the third annual running of the national Reach for the
Stars Rocket Contest. The contest is safe and exciting. The
rocket that lands closest to the target after two launches wins local
event!!!
The contest (for ages 10 to adult) is great training for advanced rocketry
contests like the Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC) and NASA’s
Student Launch Initiative.
National winners can choose to:
Receive their trophy at the Astronaut Hall of Fame and celebrate at the
Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex – Deadline June 15th.
Receive their trophy from famed author, Homer Hickam (Rocket Boys,
October Sky) and celebrate at the October Sky Festival in Coalwood,
West Virginia – Deadline August 15th.
For complete information:
www.therocketman.net |
Please
Help with the Coalwood Movie!Steve Date is one of fine
teachers from Minnesota who has been visiting Coalwood for the past five
years or so. Steve has been videotaping the locals tell about their
lives in Coalwood. Steve has now compiled a huge library of sound
and video clips along with still photos, and he is asking our assistance
in finishing the project.
What is needed now is some financial assistance to pay for professional
editors who will transform Steve's material into a polished DVD that will
forever document Coalwood.
Steve is asking for donations of any amount. All donations are
tax deductible and will be used for the project. For more
information and a mailing address, please see the home page of
www.CoalwoodMovie.com. |
A scene from a recent October Sky Festival!
The annual October Sky Festival is
organized by the members of the
Cape Coalwood Restoration Association, Ltd, a non-profit organization
dedicated to helping Coalwood.
|
Need
Help? |
 |
If you need information or help during the October Sky
Festival, please look for a member of the CCRA. They will all be
wearing yellow shirts
with "Cape Coalwood Restoration Staff" on the front. |
Schedule & Activities
Each year, the October Sky Festival follows the same schedule.
Here is what you need to know:
Plan to arrive in Coalwood around 9:00 a.m.
Be sure to leave enough time to get to Coalwood from where ever you are staying.
If you are in a hotel in Bluefield, for example, the trip can take you from 1
hour to 1.5 hours. Remember to follow all speed limits!
As soon as you arrive, find a place to park
in Coalwood Main. There is plenty of room near the machine shop buildings
and north of there towards the park.
Avoid parking in front of the Clubhouse, and Coalwood Community United Methodist Church. Avoid parking on Snakeroot between
the Clubhouse and Coalwood Community United Methodist Church. (Too much traffic and too many people.
Plus the tour buses will be parking in these areas.
There will be Porta-Potties behind the
Coalwood United Methodist Church on Snakeroot. There is also a small bathroom beside the
Coalwood swimming pool but it doesn't offer a lot of privacy once you are
inside.
We recommend your bringing along some moist towelettes to wash your hands during the festival.
Buy books if you like under the white tent
or bring your books from home. |
 |
There will be a tent set up in front of the
Coalwood Community United Methodist Church selling copies of Homer's books. If you'd like to get
Homer (and the other Rocket Boys) to autograph your book, you may buy a book
here. You may also bring your own copies from home and get them
autographed.
Important: At or next to this
tent, someone from the Festival Committee will be handing out numbered tickets
to get your books autographed. Again, you don't need to buy your books
there, but you will still need to get a ticket. The tickets are
free; just ask for one. Later in the day, Homer and the Rocket Boys will
sign autographs in numerical order by ticket number. Since the book
signing goes on all day, this system allows you to do other things without
having to stand in line all day.
There will be many booths set up around the
Clubhouse and Coalwood Community United Methodist Church. Normally, there are representatives from
NASA, and Space Camp USA. (Sometimes you'll even find real NASA
astronauts!) You'll also find booths selling food and drinks along with
souvenirs.
The parade begins!
At 10:00 or shortly before or shortly
after, there is a small parade on Main Street coming from the direction of the
Country Store. You'll usually see the Coalwood fire truck, a McDowell
County ambulance, and then the dignitaries (Homer, Linda, the Rocket Boys, local
politicians, etc.) arrive.
Visitors will listen to the dignitaries speaking
from the
front porch of the Clubhouse.
The dignitaries are let out in front of the
Clubhouse. They climb the steps onto the front porch and welcome-speeches
are made.
 |
 |
Homer and the Rocket Boys sign autographs on
the
front porch of the Coalwood Community United Methodist Church. |
As soon as the speeches are over, Homer and
the Rocket Boys move to the front porch of the Coalwood Community United
Methodist Church and start
autographing books. Someone from the Festival Committee calls out a block
of numbers in numerical order. You may get in line
any time after your number is called. The
current number is also written on a flip chart in front of the church.
Again, you may get in line anytime your ticket has a lower number than the one
currently written on the flip chart. (For example, if they are already up
to number 400, and you have been doing something else all day but have ticket
number 33 in your pocket, you may get in line.)
Also after the speeches, live music begins
from the Clubhouse porch. You can expect singers, musicians, and a lot of
dancing in the street.
Now is the time to visit more booths.
 |
 |
|
Lunch in the basement
of the Coalwood Community United Methodist Church. |
About this time, the Coalwood Community
United Methodist Church
starts serving lunch in the basement of the church. (Enter through the
door that faces the Clubhouse and go downstairs.) Lunch includes typical Coalwood food like fried chicken,
rolls, mashed potatoes and gravy, cornbread, brown beans, drinks and dessert.
You can walk around town and talk to many
local Coalwood residents and explore the Coalwood sites you've come to know and
love from the book and movie. You'll also have a chance to meet visitors
from all over the country who have come to Coalwood just for the festival.
Shuttle Bus
A shuttle bus will pick you up near the
Coalwood Community United Methodist Church and take you to Cape Coalwood where a local rocket club will be
shooting off rockets all day.
Visit McDowell WV Has
Information on Local Attractions
http://visitmcdowellcountywv.com/default.aspx
Have a great day in
Coalwood!
