Shad planking is a political event that takes place in Wakefield, Virginia once every four years where would-be candidates, reporters, campaign workers, and locals gather to eat shad, drink beer, and kick off the state’s electoral season with lighthearted speeches by politicians in attendance.
The traditional event was originally a tribute to the start of the fishing season. However, it soon gained a political function, and in 1949 came under the control of the Wakefield Ruritan Club. In its early years, Democratic party bosses used shad planking as an opportunity to select the next governor. However, the event soon became dominated by Republicans, and has only recently seen substantial representation by both parties.
Shad planking is marked by characteristic sign wars between opposing campaigns, in which campaign workers cover the surrounding area with tens of thousands of signs ranging in size from yard-variety to 4 by 8 foot billboards. Indeed, the sign wars are so tied to the event that the term “shad planking” has become occupational slang for high density sign deployment.
Anyone from Southwest Virginia heading over to Wakefield for this event?
The Dickenson County Democratic Committee will hold a special committee meeting, May 8, 2006, to conduct normal business and elect delegates and alternates for the Ninth District Convention.
The meeting that was scheduled for May 11, 2006, is cancelled.
The Russell County Democratic Committee will hold their regular meeting on Thursday, April 20, 2005 in the courthouse at 7:00 PM. Contact them for more information.
The unofficial results are in and Webb has apparently pulled one out in the petition race. Lowell is reporting that Webb finished up with 14,231, while Miller was only able to collect 13,425.
Just looking at the numbers, though, one does not realize what an upset this really was by Webb. The Webb campaign was formed much later than the Miller one. Also, Miller ended up using paid petition-circulators, unlike Webb’s all volunteer-collectors. One of Webb’s volunteers even drove to Clintwood from Arlington to pickup the signatures we had collected here in Dickenson County.
This success, like the Straw Poll, is probably not representative of what the results in the primary will be, but the small victories are starting to add up for Webb and he continues to gain momentum.
I can report that at the Dickenson County Democratic Committee meeting last night, when the senate primary was mentioned, someone said, “it’s between Webb and some other guy.” That certainly does not bode well for Miller.
