Walker Shank and Edwin Penn loved to have a good time. It was always easy to enjoy yourself around them.

Rooster Walk's mission is to recreate that atmosphere by providing a festival experience with a little something for everyone. We want kids and grandparents, hippies and suits, slackers and brown-nosers to gather once a year in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. We want great music to be the norm, arts and crafts at every turn, the smell of good food filling the air. In short, we want a full-festival experience for all to enjoy.

Walker Shank and Edwin Penn were members of Martinsville High School's graduating class of 2000 - the year "2-G" - as we called it in high school. Walker later received an economics degree from the University of Virginia, with a minor in history. He became a mortgage specialist in New York City, and spoke of his plan to one day return to the area and open a business. Edwin, an Eagle Scout, left the halls of MHS and immediately joined the working world, becoming a skilled carpenter with Burr Fox Specialized Wood Working. He continued helping younger members meet Eagle Scout requirements.

Though they took different paths, each maintained strong ties to Martinsville, and both had positive impacts on the people around them. That's why Rooster Walk's ultimate goal is to help the Martinsville community, its people, businesses and friends. The Penn-Shank Memorial LLC was created to oversee the production of RW while using proceeds for a scholarship endowment fund. Each year, we hope to reward a senior from the area with a college scholarship. As the festival grows, we plan to reach out to other worthy causes in the area.

Edwin and Walker shared a love of music, the outdoors and Martinsville itself. They would be thrilled at the idea of a sweet festival in their backyard. That's one of the reasons we're doing it.

Edwin Penn

Walker Shank