The 35th Annual Durbin Days Officially Opens

On Wednesday, July 13th, a small ceremony was held on the stage at the fairgrounds in Durbin which officially opened the 35th Annual Durbin Days Heritage Festival. Tanya Jones welcomed the public to the event, which will run from Wednesday through Saturday, July 16th. Jones previewed some of the events that will be occurring. In addition to the continuing food vendors, carnival rides and vendors of goods ranging from T-shirts and hats to specialty items, here are a few of the scheduled special events.

On Thursday July 14th:

  • 6-10 pm Bingo and Music by Soda Pop Gypsies
  • 6pm -a Cake Walk
  • 7pm -Rabbit Pong

On Friday, July 15th:

  • 5-7pm, tours at the old Durbin Jail, led by Jason Bauserman
  • Bingo from 6pm to 10pm
  • A fireman’s parade at 7pm
  • 7pm to 11pm, music by Wild Fire Honey.

On Saturday, July 16th:

  • 9am to Noon – a car show sponsored by Annie McCarthy.
  • 9:30am -a 5K Walk/Run
  • 10am – Old Time Music Jam, a BBQ Chicken feed at the BFD Volunteer Fire Department and a Cornhole Tournament
  • 11am -A Craft Show on Main Street.
  • 11am to 1pm -Jason Bauserman will present a history of Durban at the library.
  • 12pm to 4pm – a Farmers Market
  • 1pm- an Antique Car Show
  • And many other events including a 2pm parade, Cloggers, a Lumberjack Competition, a Tug-of-War, Rabit Pong, and Bingo, and music by Nite Phix -all culminating in a closing fireworks display at 10pm.

Jason Bauserman also delivered a few remarks describing the efforts of the Upper Pocahontas Community Cooperative to install 12 professionally built historical interpretive markers around Durbin, each of which presents visitors with slices of events which make up the history of the town of Durbin. Bauserman invited everyone to join him in unveiling four of these historical markers located near the railroad depot, a short walk from the fairgrounds. Here is just a “slice” of Bauserman’s remarks.

“We have a rich history here in the Town of Durbin,” said Bauserman. “We need to preserve it, and we need to be proud of it. I thought it would be good to come up with some historical signs. We have all these tourists coming in on the train. I wanted to show them what this town looked like when the train got here in 1902. We just put up twelve of our historical signs that we have been working on for five years now, and they will tell you probably stories that you have never heard about the town. Today, just shortly, we are going to unveil four signs right there at the train station.”

After these remarks a number of people followed Bauserman to the four veiled signs. Jason and his wife Julie, accompanied by Judith Fuller and Nancy Egan of the Upper Pocahontas Community Cooperative, unveiled those signs. Jason talked about each sign. Those four described:

  1. The former Durbin School House and the 144 stairs the kids had to climb every day to get up the hill to the school.
  2. The early settling of the area by John Slaven.
  3. The early train watering tank.
  4. The changes to the town when the trains first arrived in 1902.

There are eight additional informative historic markers placed around the town. Combined, they make up a walking tour of Durbin which is about 7/10ths of a mile in length. There is a brochure available at the town which shows a map and preview this tour.

Story By

Tim Walker

Tim is the WVMR News Reporter. Tim is a native of Maryland who started coming to Pocahontas County in the 1970’s as a caver. He bought land on Droop Mountain off Jacox Road in 1976 and built a small house there in the early 80’s. While still working in Maryland, Tim spent much time at his place which is located on the Friars Hole Cave Preserve. Retiring in 2011 as a Lieutenant with the Anne Arundel County Police Department in Maryland, Tim finally took the plunge and moved from Maryland to his real home on Droop Mountain. He began working as the Pocahontas County Reporter for Allegheny Mountain Radio in January of 2015.

Current Weather

MARLINTON WEATHER
WARM SPRINGS WEATHER
MONTEREY WEATHER