The Mountain Eagle
WHITESBURG WEATHER

Outdoor drama opens in Jenkins





The Whitesburg 11-12 year old girls’ softball team won the District 7 championship in Prestonsburg this weekend. Coaches are Josh Wampler, Matt and Jemma Gayheart, Skip Nantz, and Mikey Sexton. Team members are (left to right) Makenzie Nantz, Mia Rouse, Makenna Martin, Autumn Wampler, Kinzley Haley, Ashtin Caldwell, Jaleigh Wright, Kyleigh Wright, supporter Gabby Johnson, Kaleigh Adams, Katelyn Boggs and Haley Howard.

The Whitesburg 11-12 year old girls’ softball team won the District 7 championship in Prestonsburg this weekend. Coaches are Josh Wampler, Matt and Jemma Gayheart, Skip Nantz, and Mikey Sexton. Team members are (left to right) Makenzie Nantz, Mia Rouse, Makenna Martin, Autumn Wampler, Kinzley Haley, Ashtin Caldwell, Jaleigh Wright, Kyleigh Wright, supporter Gabby Johnson, Kaleigh Adams, Katelyn Boggs and Haley Howard.

The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come, an outdoor drama based on a novel of the same name by John Fox Jr., opened its ninth season at the Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come Outdoor Drama amphitheater in Jenkins on Saturday. The Little Shepherd is the story of the struggles of Chad Buford, born on Kingdom Come Mountain in the Letcher County area, growing up in the tumultuous period leading up to and including the Civil War.

Chad Buford became a symbol of Appalachian courage in Fox’s novel as the struggled without family support to understand and survive the period in which family turned against family and poverty had a place in every home in eastern Kentucky. The drama depicts his struggles to cope with the divisiveness and cruelty in the region he called home.

The novelist, John Fox Jr., lived for a time in Big Stone Gap, Va., in the early 1900s and wrote the first million-selling novel by an America writer, The Trail of the Lonesome Pine, based upon a later era in eastern Kentucky and southwestern Virginia prior to the arrival of the coal-mining industry.

The Little Shepherd outdoor drama originally began in 1971 at Van before closing in 1979.

The show runs Saturday nights through September 2, with the exception of August 26. Showtime is 8 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for youths with no charge for children under six.

On Saturday night, July 8, there is no admission charge for the first 100 audience members. The drama sponsor for this performance is Jack Looney of Seco.

Area chef Greg Clisso sponsored the opening night of the drama.

For more information, call (606) 832-1453 or visit littleshepherddrama.com.


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