By Greg Jordan, Bluefield Daily Telegraph
BRAMWELL, W.Va. — Vacation venues such as the beach usually see their business slow down when summer is over, but winter’s arrival and COVID-19 are not slowing down the ATV visitors coming to Mercer County.
The Hatfield-McCoy ATV Trail was closed down more than two months when the pandemic began earlier this year, but later it reopened and quickly started drawing out-of-state visitors again.
“It looks like we’re going to beat last year numbers,” said John Fekete, deputy executive director of the Hatfield-McCoy Trail Authority. “We were even closed for a little more than two months due to COVID, but we sold over 55,000 permits this year. Probably more than 85 percent of them were out-of-state and non-residents. It turned out to be a pretty good year.”
Since trail riding is an outdoor sport, people look at it as a way to social distance while still enjoying themselves, Fekete said. When the authority’s outlets sell a trail pass, the buyer is given a list of instructions detailing what they’re asked to do while in West Virginia. The instructions include wearing masks and taking other precautions while visiting local businesses and restaurants…
