- Title: Trump supporters flock to Roadkill Cook-off in West Virginia
- Date: 29th September 2024
- Summary: MONREALE, ITALY (AUGUST 25, 2024) (REUTERS) 'CHRIST PANTOCREATOR' MOSAICS VARIOUS OF 'CHRIST PANTOCREATOR' MOSAICS AND SCAFFOLDING MOSAICS ON WALLS VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WALKING INSIDE CATHEDRAL VIEW OF MOSAICS ON WALLS AND CEILING (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) ARCHPRIEST OF THE 'SANTA MARIA NUOVA' CATHEDRAL, FATHER NICOLA GAGLIO, SAYING: "We are inside the church of the great monaste
- Embargoed: 13th October 2024 21:17
- Keywords: appalachia appalachian autumn festival donald trump marlinton roadkill cookoff trump supporters west virginia
- Location: MARLINTON, MILL POINT & RENICK, WEST VIRGINIA
- City: MARLINTON, MILL POINT & RENICK, WEST VIRGINIA
- Country: US
- Topics: Human-Led Quirky,Human-Led Stories,North America,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA003792329092024RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Bear meat, groundhog, frog legs and freshly killed deer. Those were some of the foods served up at the West Virginia Roadkill Cook-off in Marlinton, West Virginia on Saturday (September 28).
For the past 33 years, the event has attracted adventurous eaters from near and far to the small Appalachian town with a population of about 1,000.
Kendall Beverage, a local banker, was chopping up fresh deer meat on the grill to mix with beans for a venison chili dish. Beverage said the deer meat was fresh.
“We killed one this morning coming in about 4 o’clock. Skinned that thing up,” Beverage said. “We call it our…buck bustin’ bumper beans.”
Along with unusual eats, politics were a point of discussion as the event falls roughly five weeks before Election Day.
Attendees who spoke to Reuters expressed support for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, citing the economy and immigration as major concerns.
Darrick Hayhurst, owner of Almost Heaven Smokehouse, said he’s casting his vote for Trump.
“I'd like to see the economy change,” Hayhurst said. “I'd like to see everybody making money and spending money again.”
Sam Felton, the mayor of Marlinton, West Virginia, said he was eager to vote for the former president, who won West Virginia by more than two-thirds the vote in 2020, earning more than 68% of votes compared to nearly 30% of votes cast for President Joe Biden.
“Immigration and the crime situation, inflation is on everybody's mind,” Felton said. “I cannot hardly wait to vote for Mr. Trump.”
Even attendees from out of state, like siblings 26-year-old Camille and 20-year-old Seth Frazier of Burlington, North Carolina, said they would vote for Trump, albeit somewhat reluctantly.
“We have, kind of a rock and a hard place as far as who we’re choosing between,” said Camille Frazier. “But, I mean, I'm a Republican, just because of the beliefs and the party. So that's who I’ll be voting for, probably Trump.”
While organizers said the food served at the cook-off isn’t actually roadkill, but instead dishes featuring animals you’d find on the side of the road, signs at each table warned diners to “Eat at your own risk! Food is not inspected by the Health Department.”
Participating teams of cooks vied for a 1st place $1,500 prize, which this year went to High Rocks Academy, a local educational nonprofit for young people, that served “front fender farmstand stir fry,” or deer meat stir fry.
Roadkill collisions are very common in West Virginia given the state’s many forested roads and large deer population. This year, the insurance company State Farm ranked West Virginia as the most likely U.S. state for a driver to hit an animal, listing 1 in 40 odds for animal collisions in the state.
West Virginia even has a state law allowing drivers to take home and eat roadkill under certain conditions, like informing the local law enforcement agency within 12 hours of hitting an animal.
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