Preserving history
A look back at 71 years of the King Coal Show
Brice Rush still remembers his first King Coal Show.
It came in 1957, when his dad took Rush and his twin brother to the show after theyâd finished milking the cows at their dairy farm in Khedive.
âHe gave us each $1,â Rush said. âI spent mine on a Coke and hamburger, and still had 65 cents left.â
Rush wasnât about to burn it on rides. âI had enough rides at the farm,â he said.
Instead, he had his eye on another prize: a bag of 100 catâs-eye marbles.
âWhen the show was almost over, I said, âHey, Mister, you sell me this bag of them marbles?'â Rush said. âHe said, âYeah, 10 cents.â So I bought 300 marbles.â
Rush still has the jar of marbles, which he showed to visitors at his home Monday afternoon. Visitors can see those and a trove of King Coal Show and coal mining memorabilia at this yearâs 71st annual festival, which runs from Aug. 22-29 in Carmichaels.
Brice and his wife, Linda, have been amassing vintage coal mining material from the area for the past 44 years.
They bring a display to the festival each year, rotating items from their vast collection.
In keeping with the theme of this yearâs show, âRemembering the Past,â they looked back through their archives for displays dating back to the early days of the festival.
All 71 of the King Coal Show program books will be on display. In the weeks before this yearâs Coal Show, Brice Rush has been busy building his own frames.
Another frame holds a collection of dash plaques, given away at the festivalâs auto show. Briceâs collection only takes back to 1960, but he knows of ones dating back at least five years earlier.
âIâll probably never pick those plaques up, but Iâm looking for them,â he said.
When Cabbage Patch Kids were a hot enough commodity to provoke fights in the 1980s, Brice Rush was able to get a hold of one to benefit a nonprofit.
He converted the doll into a âCoal Patch Kid.â A dog collar became a pit belt. He also converted a Dairy Queen baseball helmet into a minerâs helmet, with illumination coming from the reflector he took from a dollar flashlight.
The Coal Patch Kids were all raffled off, but Brice Rush revived the tradition with newer generations of toys, like the Coal Troll heâs bringing to this yearâs fair.
The collection keeps growing, both from items they purchase and from donations brought to their home.
âThey know if they give it to us, they can come back and see it,â Linda Rush said. âIt might take a while to find it, but weâll have it.â
And every August, they share some of their material with the public at the King Coal Show.
âNo one else will do it, so I do it,â said Rush, who started his own mining career in the Robena Mine nearly 57 years ago. âWeâre trying to preserve the history of her grandparents and parents, and my uncles, and of course I was working in the mine too. Weâre just trying to preserve the history.â
For a full schedule of this yearâs King Coal Show, go to facebook.com/kingcoalassociation.