Scholarship applications are now available for the Penn-Shank Memorial Scholarship.
Each spring, one outstanding senior at Martinsville High School is awarded the merit-based Penn-Shank Scholarship, a $4,000 award spread over four years of undergraduate study. To date, Rooster Walk Inc. has donated more than $138,000 to the endowment.
Just like Rooster Walk Inc., the Penn-Shank Memorial Scholarship Endowment Fund is named after Edwin “the Rooster” Penn IV and Walker Shank (pictured below). Organizers of Rooster Walk Inc., grew up as close friends with Edwin and Walker, and their deaths inspired the creation of the Rooster Walk Music & Arts Festival, which spawned Rooster Walk Inc. (a 501c3 community nonprofit dedicated to promoting music, arts and education in Martinsville-Henry County), which has, in turn, led to the creation of additional festivals and concerts.
We recently announced Brunch, Ballads & Beer on Saturday of Rooster Walk. These tickets went on sale today, March 1st, at noon est and SOLD OUT IN 5 MINUTES! Thank you for your support!
2023 Rives on the Road season passes are on sale now and the first three shows in the series have been announced! Individual show tickets also available.
New additions: St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Neal Francis, Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country, Brandon ‘Taz’ Niederauer, The Stews, Jon Stickley Trio, Sanctum Sully and Jules & The Agreeables join RW13 band bill. 20+ more bands still to be announced!
Season passes for the Rives on the Road 2023 live music concert series will go on sale Friday, December 16, 2022 at 10am est for a limited time! Limited quantity available.
Season passes include:
Admission to the Opening Party on Sat, Feb. 18, 2023 featuring Yarn performing one set of originals and one set of Simon & Yarnfunkel (Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel tribute) with The Jared Stout Band. The Opening Party included a catered dinner and a full bar (beer, wine and liquor). More Info
Admission to 4 more concerts in 2023. Two of these concerts are already announced: 3/11/23 Doc at 100: Tribute to Doc Watson + 3/17/23 Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country
MARTINSVILLE, VA – Rooster Walk Inc. co-founder and Chief Operating Officer William Baptist has decided to leave the nonprofit company. He informed members of the board of directors of his decision last month.
Baptist founded Rooster Walk alongside Executive Director
Johnny Buck in 2009. Baptist and Buck created Rooster Walk in memory of childhood
friends and Martinsville natives Edwin “the Rooster” Penn and Walker Shank,
both of whom passed away while in their mid-20s.
“On behalf of everyone with Rooster Walk, we’d like to thank
William for the 12-plus years he devoted to the company and its mission,” said
Rusty Lacy, Rooster Walk Inc.’s board president. “William was and always will
be a co-founder of Rooster Walk. Without him, the company and the festival
wouldn’t exist as we know them today. His countless hours of work, plus his
vision and imagination will leave an indelible mark. We wish him nothing but
the best as he moves on to new pursuits.”
Rooster Walk Inc.’s mission is to promote music, art and
education in its home of Martinsville-Henry County. The nonprofit donates a
portion of revenue from its events to local and regional charities, most
notably the Penn-Shank Memorial Endowment Scholarship Fund for Martinsville
High School students, and the Rooster Walk Music Instrument Program for band
programs in MHC’s public schools. To date, Rooster Walk Inc. has raised more
than $250,000 for these, and other, local and regional causes.
“William and I started Rooster Walk to honor our late
friends, Edwin and Walker, in 2009. We had perhaps 400 patrons attend the first
festival, and since that time, Rooster Walk has truly grown into something far
bigger and broader than we ever could have imagined,” said Buck. “William’s
intelligence and passion were always mainstays in the work he did, and huge
factors in Rooster Walk’s growth and development over the years. We will miss him, but I know that he will be
successful in whatever endeavors he pursues going forward, and I wish him well.”
A job search is underway to fill the roles Baptist held
within Rooster Walk Inc.
The company’s keynote event, the twelfth annual Rooster
Walk Music & Arts Festival, will take place May 26-29, 2022 in
Martinsville, Va. In addition to four days of live music, the family-friendly RW12
will offer a wide variety of kids’ activities, craft beer, food, arts and
numerous opportunities to enjoy Virginia’s great outdoors with kayak tours,
bike rides, yoga, a disc golf course and beautiful on-site camping.
