‘Coolest Thing’ Contest Celebrates W.Va.’s Creative Diversity

The votes are in – more than 3,200 of them – and the winner of the inaugural Coolest Thing Made In West Virginia competition will be announced next week. 

Right now, it’s down to the final five. 

Assistant News Director Maria Young caught up with Bill Bissett, president of the West Virginia Manufacturers Association, which is hosting the tournament-style contest, to find out more about the finalists. 

The following has been edited for clarity and length.   

Young: Thank you for joining us, and I would like to hear a little bit more about the coolest things made in West Virginia. How did you guys come up with this idea? 

Bissett: It is the inaugural contest in West Virginia. It happens in other states. And we spend time with the manufacturing associations in contiguous states and also really across the nation at conferences. And they’ve had such success at it.  

There’s talk of doing a national competition, like our winner this year would go on to a larger contest. But response was great. And for our first outing, we think it’ll only grow.  

The thing that impressed me so much with, and let’s say the top five that we’re talking about today who have risen to the top -- and of course we’ll announce the overall winner here soon -- but the diversity, not only of geography of our manufacturing, but the diversity of product. I mean, these are very, very different companies that are serving the different needs of the public.  

Some I think are, with a science connection or a young entrepreneur, I mean, really interesting stories, which I guess when people are deciding who to vote for, that’s probably part of it. They want to know that backstory, how it’s kind of that whole question we get a lot of how is something made? People love that. And I think with that flavor and the voting, that kind of made these five companies rise to the top. 

Young: Let’s explain briefly how the competition worked. There were a number of companies who could nominate themselves, but they could also be nominated by someone else, right? 

Bissett: We had a real mixture. We had a bunch nominated. We came up with a top 25 at that point, did voting for that after the nominations, and the top 25 became now 5. And now we’ll go to a single winner here on Oct. 2, which is also National Manufacturing Day. We’ll announce that in Martinsburg. But really, it was one of those things where we weren’t sure what we were going to get. I mean, you’ve got a major metal producer with Constellium with a 13-year-old’s toy business. That’s pretty cool. 

Young: You’ve sort of touched on them here, but let’s go ahead and list the top five and tell me a little bit about each one. And these are in no particular order, right? 

Bissett: These are in no particular order, but Constellium, obviously located near here in the Kanawha Valley, made metal for the Artemis II project. And I mean, that has a wonderful connection to not only Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier, or Catherine Johnson, who was obviously involved in this, you know, space race. But also Appalachian Critter Company, which is a 13-year-old started his own company, which is a wonderful story.  

I keep thinking, where’s this kid going to be 10 years from now? You know, what’s he going to be making then? So to get that experience at such a young age is super impressive.  

The Pulaski axe that Warwood Tool makes up in Wheeling. I mean, that has obviously a nostalgic connection, I think, to both timber and what we do here in Appalachia, and the kitchen impactor energy industry, but also just a really cool looking product.  

Bourbon barrel-infused coffee. I mean, coffee is obviously incredibly popular right now. But again, I think people like to support West Virginia made products. And this is another one.  

And Never Deer, I mean, I think any of us who live in West Virginia are frustrated with our plants and gardens being eaten by these long-legged rats or whatever you may call deer. I don’t mean to attack the deer in the state. They’re beautiful, but they are everywhere.  

But a lot of these folks, when we contact them, they’re so excited to be in the top five. And I’ll also tell you that folks that aren’t in the top five are not real happy. But there’s always next year. 

Young: So for the top five, is it the company that you would consider to be in the top five, or is it the specific item that they have made? 

Bissett: We are talking about the coolest thing made in West Virginia. So yes, obviously a company produces it, but it’s the product that wins. Our example, this is our friends in Kentucky, first year they did it, was a Corvette. And that is a pretty cool thing. I’ll give the Kentuckians that, but it’s really the product that we’re trying -- I mean, it’s great that a company makes it, that it’s people investing in our state and making these wonderful things, but at the end of the day, it’s the product itself that’s going to win the title. 

Young: What do you hope comes from this competition, for the West Virginia Manufacturers Association, but more broadly maybe for folks who are doing creative, cool, neat things like this across the state? 

Bissett: One of our biggest missions is to demystify manufacturing in West Virginia. And to your very point, I don’t think we’re a state where, “Boy, a lot of manufacturing in West Virginia.” Every job is important, every business is important. And these smaller companies that are in this, you know, competing with Constellium and Warwood, that’s great. I mean, it goes back to that product and I think the ingenuity that gives us the quality life we have.