By Greg Jordan, Princeton Times
BLUEFIELD, W.Va. — After a year of COVID shutdowns and precautions, the region is getting a festival featuring carnival rides, vendors and a daredevil who’s ready to show them something they can’t believe is possible.
Last year, the pandemic caused the 2020 Cole Chevy Mountain Festival and other events across the country to close as a precaution. In April, the Chamber of Commerce of the Two Virginias announced plans for a 10-day festival at Bluefield City Park starting Friday, June 4 and continuing through Sunday, June 13.
These plans include the return of the James H. Drew Exposition. And the carnival plans to have special performer for all 10 days of the festival, record-setting human cannonball David “The Bullet” Smith.
“We’re going to shoot him over one of the tall rides,” said Jimmy Drew, president of one of the companies making up the James H. Drew Exposition.
Smith has appeared at previous James H. Drew carnivals in Bluefield. During his career, Smith has broken several world records. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, he achieved the greatest height by a human cannonball – 89 feet – in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Nov. 26, 2019…
