OAK HILL, WV (LOOTPRESS) — Singer-songwriter and author Hilary Williams, daughter of country music legend Hank Williams Jr. and granddaughter of Hank Williams Sr., has been named the 2026 Guest of Honor and Grand Marshal for the Oak Leaf Festival in Oak Hill.
Williams will appear throughout the Labor Day weekend festival and will serve as Grand Marshal of the Oak Leaf Festival Parade. She will also be a special guest of honor during a concert tribute to her father, Hank Williams Jr., on Saturday, September 5.
Her visit carries special meaning because of Oak Hill’s connection to the Williams family.
Hank Williams Sr. died in Oak Hill during the early morning hours of New Year’s Day 1953 at just 29 years old. He had been traveling in the back seat of his Cadillac on the way to a New Year’s Day performance at Canton Memorial Auditorium in Canton, Ohio.
More than 70 years later, festival organizers say his granddaughter’s return represents a full-circle moment, with Williams coming to Oak Hill as an honored guest and leading one of the community’s biggest annual events.
Williams has also built a career and story of her own. In 2006, she survived a serious automobile crash while traveling through Mississippi with her sister, Holly. Her injuries led to years of surgeries, rehabilitation and recovery before she eventually returned to music and performing.
She later documented her recovery in her memoir, Sign of Life, and released her debut album, My Lucky Scars, which draws from her experiences involving recovery, relationships and growing up as part of one of country music’s best-known families.
The Oak Leaf Festival has been held in Oak Hill since 1999 and has grown into a major Labor Day weekend celebration in Southern West Virginia. The volunteer-organized festival includes live music, arts and crafts, food vendors, family activities, children’s attractions, a classic car and motorcycle show, pageants, talent showcases, competitions, a parade and fireworks.
Festival organizers said Williams’ appearance connects Oak Hill’s present-day celebration with an important chapter in American country music history while welcoming a new generation of the Williams family to the community.
The 2026 Oak Leaf Festival will take place over Labor Day weekend in Oak Hill.
