eric: retired miner steve sawalich is the festival president. al mines is what made southern illinois. and i don't want that to be a lost cause. eric: there's no parade this year thanks to covid, but there is an opening ceremony with the reigning old king coal, the beauty pageant winner princess flame and a vip politician, republican state representative dave severin. dave: there is a war on coal, there's--coal has never been cleaner than it is today, coal mines have never been safer than they are today. what turned your lights on this morning? all: coal. dave: what's gonna turn the heat on if you need it? all: coal. dave: one more time. all: coal. male: thank you, representative severin. ♪♪♪ eric: downtown is a stark sign of how badly coal is doing. the town's population has dropped from a peak of 20,000 to just 8000 as the local mines closed or scaled down. that doesn't mean people see coal as having had its day. many blame clean air laws that made illinois' high-sulfur coal more expensive than wyoming's. steve: it's cheaper to get coal out wes