Fayette County: A Community For All

October 26, 2002
Photos by Vivian Stockman

Press Release
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A COMMUNITY FOR ALL

For Immediate Release

October 22, 2002

The main event in Fayetteville this Saturday is an open-air picnic celebrating “A Community for All”. It’s all happening at the Fayetteville Town Park from 10 am to 1 pm, this Saturday October 26. There will be food, speakers, and music. Children will enjoy the brand new Play-it-ville complex, recently completed by a community wide volunteer effort.

“It’s potluck, so bring a dish, some fruit or cookies or a bag of chips,” says Sally Hurst, an event organizer. We have a great line-up of performers including the Brown Singers of Montgomery plus Fayetteville musicians Gary Reynolds and Ralph Chambers, along with their friends.

Speakers will include Town Mayor Jim Murdock, Fayette County Commission chair John Witt, West Virginia author and historian Denise Giardina, Marcus Wilkes of the West Virginia Rainbow Coalition, and a speaker from the West Virginia NAACP. Senators Robert Byrd and Jay Rockefeller, and Congressman Nick Rahall have been invited.

To avoid the Klan rally, the best route to the town park is by turning off Route 19 on to the Keller Ave exit just south of the New River Bridge. Then turn left at Dirty Ernie’s and follow Hresan Boulevard 1 mile to the town park.

The Community for All celebration is a community response to a planned KKK rally at the Fayette County Court House on Saturday morning. Town officials, police, and Community for All organizers are urging people to stay away. “Boycott the Klan event. Bring a lawn chair and come to the Park instead,” says Sally Hurst. “That’s the best way to avoid trouble and tell the hate groups that we are not interested in their message.”

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