Hope In The Hills’ ‘Healing Appalachia’ Benefit To Return In September

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Hope in the Hills’ “Healing Appalachia” benefit concert will return to Lewisburg’s State Fairgrounds in West Virginia Sept. 21-23 with performances by Tyler Childers, Trey Anastasio and Classic TAB, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit and more.

Also on tap for the three-day event, which builds community as people from across the world gather to celebrate recovery and raise awareness for the opioid crisis, are performances from Umphrey’s McGee, Gov’t Mule, Marcus King, Amythyst Kiah, 49 Winchester, Arlo McKinley, Tommy Prine, Katie Pruitt, Tre Burt, Kelsey Waldon and Charles Wesley Godwin, among others.

In addition to the performances, the weekend will feature speeches from those affected by addiction as well as 41 organizations providing support and information to attendees, including a free Naloxone (a narcotic overdose treatment) training from the Drug Intervention Institute, Inc., Murphy Innovative Strategies and Concept and ONEbox. Last year’s course is believed to be the world’s largest one-time Naloxone training, which had over 11,000 attendees learning how to administer the drug.

The 2023 edition of “Healing Appalachia” will be the largest yet, with nearly double the number of performers and 11 more organizations on-site than last year’s two-day event, which brought over 16,600 music lovers to West Virginia from 38 states, Australia, Canada and England. 

“West Virginia still has the highest rate of fatal overdoses in the nation, but the number of overdoses in-state did go down in 2022,” says Dave Lavender, Hope in the Hills Board President. “As daunting as the opioid crisis is, hope is actually building here in West Virginia and across Appalachia. Robust and resilient communities of healing are forming over this open wound. We want ‘Healing Appalachia’ to be a place to celebrate and foster that hope of recovery and wellness. We can’t wait to gather in person again to share the magic of live music, to celebrate recovery and give folks a space and time to make connections and create new, healthy, joy-filled memories.”

Since the first “Healing Appalachia” fundraiser in 2018, Hope in the Hills has raised nearly $400,000 for recovery organizations in the region, helping to reduce the stigma of addiction.  Proceeds from this year’s event will benefit organizations across Appalachia including recovery houses, recovery-to-work initiatives and camps for kids in trauma.
Tickets for the 2023 event are on-sale now as well as passes for RV camping. There will be a designated family camp area as well as Camp Grindstone, a separate camp for attendees in recovery. For more information, click here.
Lorie Hollabaugh
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