Tim Walker
AMR Reporter
It was a beautiful and sunny weekend that greeted visitors to the 35th Annual Roadkill Cookoff and Autumn Harvest Festival in Marlinton this past weekend.
According to Malinda Meck of the Pocahontas County Chamber of Commerce, which organizes of the event, five teams entered the roadkill cookoff this year. Meck also said that their best guesstimate is that there was a record 15-20,000 thousand attendees as well as a record number of craft and food vendors. She added that the crafts at the event are required to be created by craftsmen, not items bought from a store unless they are significantly added to or improved by the crafts person. Meck said that the food vendors, and there were many of them along the streets were required to be either non-profits or members of the Chamber of Commerce. When we were speaking to Meck, we were joined by USA Today Reporter Jack Gruber who was also conducting an interview. Gruber told us that this event has been national news for many years. He was also curious about the lack of rowdiness and the friendly attitude at the Roadkill event, despite the large number of people. Meck told him that is because of both the lack of alcohol sales and use at the event and because of the naturally peaceful nature of Pocahontas County residents.
Here are the five organizations that entered their roadkill recipe dishes in this year’s event:
The Dolly Possums, whose recipe was called “Jolene, Don’t You Take My Deer Cake.” Head cook Emmet Doolittle spoke with us.
“We care a lot about using local ingredients, that’s why we’ve tried to pull as many of the items on this menu from all of our partner farms, and from High Rocks’ farm as well. And with fresh ingredients – humble ingredients – made well is what we are trying to do. So, this is a marinated venison on top of a traditional corn hoecake, then over the venison is a cranberry chow-chow, which is a sweet vinegary pepper mix with onions, and then its topped with beets that are pureed down into a cream…”
The Dolly Possums won First Place in this year’s Roadkill Cook-off.
Jakes Route 66 Wrecking Crew whose recipe was called “The Route 66 Head-on Harvest. Samuel Swartz was the head cook. We spoke briefly with the Assistant Cook, Reagan Swartz.
“It’s our second Roadkill, what are we cooking?… it’s a stag-boar stew, so it’s venison and boar with mixed vegetables, it has carrots, onions, lima beans and okra in it.”
Head Cook Samuel Swartz jumped in to say what the menu is based on.
“It’s the myth of the Stag-Boar on Route 66 where the stag and the boar came off the mountain and collided right at the yellow line, and a new beast was born the ‘Stag-Boar.’” “Yeah, true roadkill,” added Reagan.
Jake’s Route 66 Wrecking Crew was the Second Place winner of this year’s Roadkill Cook off.
The PCB Buck Busters, whose recipe was called “Road Hard Ruttin’ Buck with Skunk Cabbage.”
The Head Cook spoke with us. “I’m Kendall Beverage with the PCB Buck Busters. We’re down here at the Marlinton Roadkill Cook-off. We have a delicious dish for you; it’s a Road Hard Ruttin’ Buck with Skunk Cabbage. It’s a delicious venison with banana peppers, jalapenos – we got a nice little sweet glaze on there to cut down on some of that heat, ginger, soy, and honey. We just love this event; we’ve been a member of the Chamber for many years.”
The PCB Buck Busters took Third Place in the cook-off and also the “People’s Choice Winner.”
The Coal Hollow Brothers, whose recipe was called “Pirate Ship Pork.” Chris Sachs, their head cook described their recipe: “Today we are doing what we call Pirate Ship Pork, it’s a pork and apple stew that’s simmered with onions, and herbs and spices and slow cooked in our Dutch ovens. Let me tell you, it’s probably one of the best things I’ve ever cooked, and I’ve been cooking for a long time.”
The Coal Hollow Brothers were awarded the “Showmanship” award for this year’s Roadkill Cook off.
The Ditch Divas, whose recipe was called “Mac of the Ditch,” and consisted of Black Bear meat, macaroni noodles, cheese and various spices and mixed with barbeque sauce. Kayla Kuh was the head cook, and she added: “It’s our Mac of the Ditch, it’s our Black Bear found on the road off of Route 42. This is a pretty cool event, we’ve been here… this is our fourth year, and we hope to come again.”
All-in-All, the 2026 Roadkill Cook off and Autumn Harvest Festival was an incredible event with a record number of craft and food vendors as well as attendees. Just walking up First Avenue from Sixth Street to Ninth Street, we observed parked cars bearing out-of-state tags from Maine, Texas, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland and Illinois.
