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Mountaineer Week radio spot - November 7, 2025
Transcript
Shauna Johnson: This is West Virginia University. For 78 years now, WVU has celebrated Appalachian tradition during Mountaineer Week, a fall week highlighting traditional arts, music, storytelling, crafts, and food for the university and local communities. Kristie Stewart-Gale is with Arts and Entertainment, the producer of the event.
Kristie Stewart-Gale: I want people to understand what makes us mountaineers, and I think we look at a lot of the things that we celebrate as art forms now. But back in the day, they were essential to survival in Appalachia, and so that's why I want people to come and understand the demonstrations and the music and the food even, and understand where we got our grit. That's what Mountaineer Week is about.
Shauna Johnson: Feature events include the Juried Arts and Crafts Fair, quilt show, beard growing contest, Appalachian trivia, and the naming of the Mountaineers of Distinction. Students who exemplify mountaineer values. The goal of Mountaineer Week is to instill an appreciation of Appalachian culture, something some students may not understand.
Kristie Stewart-Gale: I think our in state students do. Some of our out of-state students probably don't. And so I think when you get to experience it, and you get to talk to these people who've put their heart and soul and life into these, what are art forms now, they understand maybe where all those values come from.
Shauna Johnson: Stewart-Gale's favorite part of Mountaineer Week is the camaraderie.
Kristie Stewart-Gale: I think everyone who comes into the building or comes into a particular event, they'll have a story to tell. Whether they're an alum or they're a lifelong resident of the state or they've participated in other arts and crafts fairs, they all have a story, and we're all connected.
Shauna Johnson: So let's go. Follow our stories at wvutoday.wvu.edu.
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