The Black Gold Festival

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Photo above: 1937 Hazard Coal Carnival Labor Day Celebration. The photo was taken on Lovern Street, looking toward Main Street and Taxi Alley. Notice the traffic light. Also there are many people watching the parade from the rooftops. The building on the corner is Main Street’s oldest, built in 1911, and is now the Sapling Center. The Boston store can be seen on the right.

The Black Gold Festival kicks off in Hazard, KY today. It’s Kentucky’s second largest festival (the Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon/miniMarathon is the largest). Festival goers can see the Black Gold Bike Show, the Road Hazards Extreme Team Stunt Show, the Black Diamond Street Rod Show, Antique Appraisals, the Ugliest Lamp Contest, a parade, and an assortment of food vendors and arts & crafts.

This festival traces its roots to the Hazard Coal Carnival, which began in 1937. The Perry County beauties pictured here competed in the Miss Coal Carnival pageant, one of the highlights of that first carnival.

The photo was taken by Frances Calitri Easterling at Sandy Beach, on the North Fork of the Kentucky River near Viper, Kentucky.

Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys played a free concert at the 1962 Coal Carnival, on the courthouse steps.

sources: www.hazardkentucky.com
www.kyfestivals.com

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