Staff Report

The 57th Annual Shad Planking, sponsored by the Wakefield Ruritan Club, will be held at the Wakefield Sportsman’s Club on Brittles Mill Road

beginning at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, April 20. The program for this year’s event will feature candidates for this year’s gubernatorial election, Lt. Governor Tim Kaine and former Attorney General Jerry Kilgore.

Only 2800 tickets will be sold this year and Shad Planking Chairman Robert Bain predicts a quick sellout.

The afternoon event will begin at 2 p.m. and end 6:30 p.m. Kilgore and Kaine will speak at 4 p.m. The menu consists of Planked Shad cooked over an open fire. This year’s event promises to continue the long-standing traditions of Shad Planking.The Shad Planking traces its origin to the early 1930’s when a group of friends gathered together at Wrenn’s Mill in Isle of Wight County during the Spring running of the shad in the James River.

They planked the shad after the tradition of native Virginia Indians and talked politics after the tradition of their fathers before them. The Wakefield Ruritan Club assumed sponsorship of the event in 1949.

Tickets are available through the Virginia Diner in Wakefield by calling 1-800-935-4004 or through the Wakefield Ruritan Club by mail at P. O. Box 148, Wakefield, Va. 23888.