MOUNT HOPE, W.V. (LOOTPRESS) – Sunday mornings in Mount Hope are looking a little different recently with the resurgence of Music on Main, a time where the community can get together, drink some coffee, listen to good music and talk about things going on in the city.
Carrie Kidd, executive director of Harmony for Hope, a non-profit organization that works to unite the communities of southern West Virginia with art and music and hosts Music on Main, says, originally, the event was a way to highlight the newly reopened Coal Bucket Coffee shop- located in The Mountainair Hotel- while creating a place for the community.
Harmony for Hope first started hosting Music on Main in 2017, but it was put on hold due to the pandemic. The general manager of the Coal Bucket Coffee shop suggested the city restart the event and move it into the coffee shop so that people could get together on Sunday morning without interfering with local businesses.
“He said we could just sit around a table, and if someone shows up, then that gives us the opportunity to tell them what’s going on in Mount Hope,” Kidd explained.
The Sunday morning event organically grew, and while it does draw in a handful of regulars, Kidd says through Music on Main the shop has been able to serve those who need the help the most.
“We have had people show up that tend to be the outcasts, but we have been able to offer them a service. We need to be out there in the face of the community, the entire community. This is something that has been needed in the small town of Mount Hope for some time.”
Kidd noted that the area already has great family businesses, and, although it has a community center, it is run by the city and cannot open as an all-inclusive community place because of its historic nature.
“By us having the coffee shop and offering Music in Main to anyone in the community, it gives everyone a place to feel together. It doesn’t matter what socioeconomic background you come from. It doesn’t matter because you will be accepted here.”
In previous years, Music on Main could only be held in the summer, but now, in the comforts of the coffee shop, it can be enjoyed all year long.
“We can offer more to the community now than we could before,” Kidd said. “I feel like the more information that the community can get, the more active they are, the more they will want to be engaged. Just by being able to be out there and have conversation with people on an everyday level will make them feel like they can be more active and more engaged.”
Kidd called Music on Main a “labor of love” explaining that the coffee shop currently operates on volunteer participation only.
“This is a service; we are not taking any money. This is all to get the community involved. We are hoping to build it and continue to have an impact on people.”
Music on Main is held inside Coal Bucket Coffee every Sunday morning from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.
Coal Bucket Coffee is open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
