The Rooster Walk Music and Arts Festival

Three Martinsville natives are organizing a music festival to help turn the loss of two friends into a positive event that benefits the community. The Rooster Walk Music and Arts Festival will be held from 11 a.m. May 23 to 2 a.m. May 24 at the Blue Mountain Festival Grounds at 2067 Coopers Mountain Road, Martinsville. Organizers hope it will become an annual event. Several bands are slated to perform, including Town Mountain; Kings of Belmont; Lazy Man Dub Band; Sanctum Sully; Joe Washrag; Jason & the State, featuring Hunter from Existor; Moon Rats; Andy Thorn, Jon Stickley and friends; Johnny Guitar; and Rebel Guns. The bands perform a variety of musical styles, including rock, bluegrass, reggae and blues. Jimmy Jordan will be the guest master of ceremonies. Concessions will be available, and the festival will be held rain or shine. Several nonprofit agencies will have informational booths, and arts and crafts vendors also will have wares for sale. A limited number of vendor spaces are available. Advance tickets are $20, and they will be $25 at the gate. Children 12 and younger will be admitted free, and there will be a “Kid’s Zone” with activities for youngsters during a portion of Saturday. The festival is named in honor of Edwin “The Rooster” Penn IV and Walker Shank, also Martinsville natives and friends, according to co-organizers William Baptist, Kirk Smith and Johnny Buck. The five men had been friends since first grade and graduated from Martinsville High School together in 2000, Buck said. Penn, 25, died in November 2007 in a dirt bike accident; Shank, 27, died in his sleep in December 2008. “It was a big shock ... a tremendous loss,” Buck said. Shank graduated from the University of Virginia in 2004. He was living in New York at the time of his death and working as a mortgage specialist in the banking industry, Baptist said. Penn, an Eagle Scout, remained in Martinsville, where he was “a great asset to the community. He would help anybody with anything,” Baptist said. The festival organizers “wanted to do something to keep their memory strong,” Buck said. “We wanted to create something positive” from the loss. “And we wanted to do it in a way they would have enjoyed.” They also wanted an event that would benefit the community, Baptist said. They hit on the festival idea in January. Shortly thereafter, they created the Penn-Shank Memorial LLC to operate the event, with plans to use proceeds to create an endowment scholarship fund to help Martinsville High School students beginning in 2010. A grassroots fundraising campaign began. “The support has been tremendous, even in this economy,” Buck said. The festival is “funded up front” by charitable donations, including the use of the Blue Mountain Festival Grounds, owned by MHS graduate Rob King, Baptist said. Volunteers will run the event, and many of the bands are taking cuts in their regular fees. Some area businesses and individuals have also donated items for a silent auction that will take place Saturday. Proceeds from sold items will go toward the scholarship fund, and organizers are still accepting donations for the auction and the festival. The Dutch Inn is offering a special room rate of $59.95 for festival-goers and will donate $5 to the event for each room booked, organizers said. A shuttle service also will be available on Saturday to provide transportation to and from the festival from the Dutch Inn and Martinsville High School. Online ticket sales are donated by the musictoday ticket service, organizers said. Expenses are “pretty much bare bones,” Buck said, and it is hoped is that the festival will become self-sustaining in years to come. Dogs and open containers will not be permitted. Camping will be available for $10 per vehicle in either the family or general campground, Buck said.