On May Day 2026, we celebrated May Day at West Edge Factory with A Redneck Reclamation! We learned about West Virginia’s labor history from Kenzie New Walker, Executive Director of the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum, listened to amazing poetry by Kandi Workman, end enjoyed live music from Thomas Jude, Matt Mullins, and Hoot & Holler community marching band. We ate pepperoni rolls, drank sweet tea, and honored Sid Hatfield, “the Miner’s Friend”, by painting his portrait for our SOLIDARITY mural.
Sid Hatfield was a blacksmith, a coal miner, and a WWI veteran before serving as the Matewan Chief of Police in 1919. He was a principled man who fought so hard for miner’s rights to unionize that he was assassinated by the Baldwin-Felts detectives hired to protect the interest of coal companies.
