06/29/2026
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU - Y'all did it once again and made this year the biggest, baddest, bestest Hellbender Hootenanny ever!!
Our core Hootenanny crew for 2026 consisted of Michael Moore of The W.V. Hellbender, David Ridgeway of Summersville Lake Retreat & Lighthouse, Steve Postalwait and Linda of Backpacks 4 Veterans , Bill Wise of Lake Country 3WS and Ralph George & Seth Phillips. We laughed, cried, and smacked each other around once or twice during all the planning but that's what family does.
There were so many of you that became part of the Hootenanny crew along the way such as Jamie & Bill Ackerly of the Blue Star Mothers of America WV2 and Chris Gilgenast of Miley Legal Accident Injury Lawyers along with Cole Harley-Davidson and Easyriders Magazine -- we can't begin to express our thanks and appreciation for everyone that was involved in making this event so amazing.
21 Brotherhood Mountaineer Chapter, the Valkyries Ladies Club and the Blue Star Mothers of America WV2 were amazing partners in the Hootenanny and truly turned it up to 11 this year with the Backpack Ride, Biker Games and Bike Show.
Nite Phix Band hooked us up with the stage and kicked us off on a rockin good time along with The Lucky Devils, Hot Rod DeVille and Krista Hughes Music - you all rocked our socks off!
What can we say about Danny, Amanda, Bobby, and Neal with the Wild Wheels Wall of Death - great people and wow- what a show!
We had fantastic sponsors, talented performers, incredible vendors, awesome volunteers, supporters, promoters, influencers, and the attendees were all thrilled with everything. We'll keep working on thanking you guys!
Our community thanks you as well! We loved having motorcycles fill the campgrounds, the local hotels, AirBnBs, and all the restaurants and businesses in Southern West Virginia. We counted attendees from at least 20 different states and as far as Texas, Florida, and Canada. Community lenders were on-site and took notice- the Hootenanny is a big deal!
The cherry on top was that Zackery, a local West Virginia Veteran, won the raffle bike and rode that bad boy home from the Hootenanny! To tell y'all what kind of guy he is, Zack and his wife came back and spent the next day helping with the tear down of the Wall of Death. Could not have asked for a better person to win this.
We are still compiling everything but your monetary support is going to carry the good work of Backpacks 4 Veterans a very long ways. We'll leave it to them to share how you impacted the lives of WV Veterans- follow them on FB at Backpacks 4 Veterans and at www.backpacks4veterans.com --
If I missed you in this post please forgive me - still recovering from all this- know that our Hootenanny crew loves ya and appreciates ya!
We will keep you filled in on our future plans on the Hellbender Hootenanny pages so stay tuned! Loads of great pics and videos are being posted by attendees. If you are looking for pics of you or your crew just stand by as our photographers are working hard at compiling all the great moments. We will keep posting as we get it in and keep that Hellbender Hootenanny spirit rolling all year!
Hoooooooootenannnnnnnny!!!
