Published: September 15, 2025 |

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A coal industry exhibition that brought around 150 vendors and thousand of visitors to Mercer County concluded its third and final day Friday at the Brushfork National Guard Armory.

The 25th biennial Bluefield Coal & Mining Show’s last day was starting to wind down Friday afternoon as exhibitors prepared to depart. Organizers called the show a success.

“We’ve done very well. A lot of key decision makers from the coal industry have been here. Our main exhibitors are very happy with those guys arriving and viewing their new equipment and their new technologies they’re bringing, so we’re very pleased,” said Bob Ramsey, the coal show’s general chairman.

“The show was very organized. Jeff (Disibbio) and the team have done a great job of getting this thing all pulled together. We’re very proud of what we presented this week,” added Ramsey.

Organizing and presenting the show was a major project for the Chamber of Commerce of the Two Virginias and the many volunteers giving their time to it.

“It’s really like a two-week process starting the set-up, during the show, and then the teardown,” said Ramsey.

“And there is a tremendous amount of work that is done behind the scenes with volunteers and the staff. It’s quite remarkable what it takes to put this together, but we’re very proud of the whole team,” added Ramsey.

Marvin Woodie Jr., president of Conn-Weld Industries in Princeton, said the coal industry is having a difficult time now. Conn-Weld was among this year’s exhibitors.

“Universally, globally, it’s doing really well, but as far as the United States and North America, the coal industry is having a very tough time and this is one of those downturns, and I think we’ll come through,” said Woodie.

“But specifically this show for us, it was good the first couple of days and then today’s been a little slow, but it’s good to come out and see our customers, the existing customers that we have and we enjoy that. We learn a lot about what’s going on in the industry by participating in these and as far as our local community, we like to support it as well. That’s why we show here as well,” added Woodie.

On Thursday, Deputy Administrator William “Bill” Briggs of the U.S. Small Business Administration visited the coal show and told exhibitors and guests that his agency and President Trump supported the coal industry and manufacturing in the United States. After a brief speech, Briggs spent around four hours talking to exhibitors about how the SBA can help their businesses.

Previous coal shows have brought around 6,000 visitors to Mercer County and the surrounding area.

“We don’t have exact numbers, but I will say we are probably close to being on par with what we have been in the past,” said Jeff Disibbio, president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of the Two Virginias.

“We have a number of requests for additional passes to get in from a lot of the vendors in the past day or two, so we’re happy for that. We’re always encouraged when new businesses are able to attend. We’ve had some really positive feedback from some of the new vendors. I was talking to one of the ones from Milwaukee and he was saying that if he had known that this show was as big and robust as it was, they would have bought a much larger space. They plan on coming back to every show and having a far more significant presence than they have now,” added Disibbio.

The next Bluefield Coal & Mining Show will take place in 2027.

“We’re extremely excited about the show this year. We’ve pinpointed some things to help this grow for next time and we think we’ve got a couple of good ideas, feedback from vendors to be able to improve the experience all the way around,” added Disibbio.

Source: Bluefield Daily Telegraph

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