June 20, 2026 - What started as an idea in the minds of three or four friends will once again this weekend feature close to 2,000 people paddling kayaks, canoes, and other craft down 13 miles of West Virginia’s Coal River. The annual Tour de Coal float trip will start early Saturday morning from Meadowwood Park in Tornado and go downstream to St. Albans.

“My grandkids say, ‘Grandpa started the biggest party in the history of the river. That’s his claim to fame,'” laughed Bill Currey, founding member of the Coal River Group.

Currey and a handful of friends formed the organization because they wanted to see a better image of the Coal River which for decades was considered a dark and dirty waterway and the last place anybody would want to enjoy a summer afternoon. This Saturday, they’ll celebrate the work done to change the image and the quality of the Coal River’s water.

“So many people have opted out of making a donation to us, but they still want to be in the river. So they launch all up and down the river just to be with the rest of the party. People ask me if that bothers me, and no it doesn’t. This river was so dirty when we started everybody was afraid to put their feet in it, now it’s so clean everybody wants to be there,” he said.

The Tour de Coal was started 24 years ago as a fundraiser for the Coal River Group to help pay for their activities to advocate for the river. Instead of protesting and criticizing the problems with the river and pointing fingers of blame, Currey and his group worked to form partnerships and seek grants to actually clean it up. The goal was always cleaning up the river, and not worrying about who was responsible for its demise. With the positive approach, more and more people climbed on board and the group began to grow.

Through time, organizers had helped garner multiple federal and state grants to help build sewage treatment plants to get the raw sewage out of the water. They advocated for development of access points for put in and take out of paddle craft. Volunteers picked up trash and started to realize the enjoyment and value of the waterway. As the group grew, the success grew, and it caused more and more people to take ownership of the river.

“I’m a good recruiter,” laughed Currey. “But what we’re so proud of is it brings so many people, paddlers and tourists, from out of state to attend the largest flatwater kayak event in the United States.”

Today, the Coal River Group has a headquarters building in Meadowood Park and helps to maintain the area owned by the Kanawha County Commission. They even developed their own kayak rental business for those who want to give it a try. The city of St. Albans has gotten in on the act by bookending the Saturday morning float trip with the “Yak Fest” around the city’s main street square. Musical acts will perform on Friday and Saturday nights. Vendors are set up to cater to the paddling enthusiasts.

“The street is totally sold out with vendors. The success for St. Albans is huge,” said Currey.

Paddlers who want to participate are encouraged to bring their boats and gear to Meadowwood Park on Friday where it can be staged for launch on Saturday. Then a series of shuttles will run all day from the Gateway Shopping Center back to Meadowwood Park to cut down on the level of traffic in the small Tornado community.

“We’ve done it so much that our captains who manage each section of this will be on hand to direct people as to where to park, where to load up, all of those kinds of things,” he said.

The trip should take a few hours, or longer depending on how quickly you want to move. But the water is calm and most of it is flat and gentle with no whitewater to navigate with along the way.