HUNTINGTON, Emery County — Family and friends kept a white-knuckle grasp on hope Wednesday as it became clear a third day would pass with no rescue for the six coal miners trapped in the Crandall Canyon Mine.

"They'll walk out of there," said Lee Cratsenburg, a distant cousin of one of the miners, Kerry Allred, of Cleveland, Emery County. "He'll be coming out, and he'll be so excited that with the language he'll have you'll have to plug your ears."

"When they come out," said Cratsenburg's son, Allan Borba, "it'll be the biggest party ever."

In Cleveland, the town clerk and her daughter changed three letters in the "Cleveland Rocks!" sign at the city park to change the message to "Cleveland Hopes!"

Cratsenburg said Allred has a smile for everyone.

"He's always cheerful," she said. "A cheerful little leprechaun."

The Allreds have been mining in Emery County since soon after the Mormon pioneers settled here, Cratsenburg said. Kerry Allred, 58, has been a miner for more than 30 years, and his brother Steve is also a coal miner, said Dennis Jones, who grew up with Kerry Allred.

Jones said Allred is a family-oriented man and a talented musician.

"He formed a band in high school," Jones said. "He played lead guitar and taught one friend to play the drums and another friend to play the bass guitar. This was the late '60s, so they played rock 'n' roll."

Jones worked at the nearby Wilberg Mine with Steve Allred when an explosion and fire killed 27 miners. Jones joined the mine rescue team then but later moved on to become the principal of the elementary school in neighboring Orangeville. He hasn't seen his childhood friend for years but said he is the kind of man who "would give you the shirt off his back."

Jones taught one of the other trapped miners, Brandon Phillips, when Phillips was in elementary school in Orangeville.

"They're both just regular people you'd meet on the street who would do anything for you," Jones said. "You don't expect this. You expect them to walk through the door at night when everyone else comes home from work."

Cratsenburg worked at the Wilberg Mine. She was on the graveyard shift, scheduled to work soon after the explosion. An old mining superstition that said women were bad luck didn't bother Allred.

"He was one who didn't mind a female underground back then," Cratsenburg said.

The miners' family members continued Wednesday to sequester themselves at Canyon View Junior High School in Huntington, a decision that made sense to Cleveland Mayor Chris Parkins.

"I think it's good for them," he said. "Nobody knows what you're going through better than someone going through it."