‘Kid at heart’ leads parish festival for 26th straight year

Bill Kidwell, right, is usually all smiles when it’s time for the St. Jude Parish Festival in Indianapolis. This year’s festival on June 23-25 will mark his 26th year of chairing the festival. Here, he poses for a photo at the 2012 festival with Father James Wilmoth, the pastor of St. Roch Parish in Indianapolis. (Submitted photo)

By John Shaughnessy

Ask anyone what they enjoy most about parish festivals in the archdiocese and the answers—and the smiles—come easily:
 

• The delight that spreads across the faces of children playing games and enjoying rides.
• The satisfying sensation of sinking your teeth into crispy fried chicken, a juicy, straight-off-the-grill hamburger or a lip-licking slice of pie.
• The joy of savoring a drink and a good time with friends as music floats across the parish grounds on a beautiful evening.

As for Bill Kidwell, he loves his parish festival so much that he takes a week’s vacation for it.

And that comes after he’s spent months planning and coordinating one of the largest parish festivals in the archdiocese. In fact, the St. Jude Parish Festival on June 23-25 will be the 26th year that Kidwell will lead the event that enlists about 400 volunteers and draws as many as 25,000 people.

(Related: See a list of all upcoming parish festivals here)

“One of the things that’s great about the festival is that you get to know so many members of the parish, and they get to know you,” Kidwell says. “No matter what generation you are, you work together, and everyone is your friend. That’s why Father Gerry Kirkhoff started the festival 30 years ago—for the parishioners to get to know each other. And that hasn’t wavered since.”

Nor does Kidwell waver in his desire to deflect the spotlight from him and shine it on the parish staff and all the volunteers who help at the festival.

As an example, he raves about Ruth Purifoy, who has been in charge of the festival’s “Coke booth” for 30 years. Eight years ago, she retired and moved to Cincinnati, but she returns to help every year, working every hour of the festival from Thursday afternoon to Saturday night.

“She just won’t give it up,” he says admiringly. “To me, that’s dedication.”

That word also describes Kidwell, says Father Stephen Banet, St. Jude’s pastor.

“Few volunteers would even take on the commitment of chairing such a mammoth event as a summer festival, let alone do so for 26 consecutive years,” Father Banet notes. “We have in Bill a wonderful example of a servant leader, and he has inspired dedication from countless volunteers along the way. He is a true gift to our parish.”

At 63, Kidwell shares his secret for his longevity in leading the festival.

“I’ve never grown up,” he says with a laugh. “I’m still a kid at heart. I love to have fun, and I love to see people have fun. And I love the parish. Why wouldn’t I do it?”

He pauses before his voice takes a more serious tone, “I won’t kid you, it’s a lot of work, and a lot of phone calls. It wouldn’t work if it wasn’t for my wife. Denise supports me 100 percent in this.”

So have their three children—T.C., Mary and Kevin—who have helped through the years. And now Kidwell gets what he considers the best experience of all of the festival—sharing it with his three grandchildren, Liam, 8, Olivia, 7, and London, 5.

“They call it ‘Papa’s Festival,’ ” he says with delight. “They love every minute of it. They’re there all three nights. I take time out to spend time with them as they play the games and ride the rides. It’s not a lot of time, but I take time to enjoy my grandkids.”

That emphasis on fun is the guiding principle in Kidwell’s approach to the festival. At the same time, his leadership has created financial benefits to St. Jude and its sister parish in Indianapolis, St. Philip Neri.

“Our festival annually nets about $75,000, which helps fund capital projects not allotted for in our annual operating budget, such as air conditioning in our school, the church roofing project, and so much more,” says Kimberly Pohovey, the parish’s communications coordinator. “And annually, we tithe 10 percent of our festival income to St. Philip Neri.”

As the festival nears, Kidwell will continue his prayers.

“We ask for good weather, but the main thing we ask for is a safe and happy festival,” he says. “When it’s over, it’s always a feeling of relief that we’ve had a good festival.”

The festival is scheduled to end on Saturday night at 11 p.m., but Kidwell and his crew are usually still on the parish grounds at 2 a.m. Sunday, wrapping up details. At the end of the exhilarating and exhausting weekend, it would seem natural that Kidwell would get a few extra hours of sleep on Sunday. Instead, he will be back at the parish at 5:30 a.m., opening the church and making sure everything is just right for the 7 o’clock Sunday Mass—just as he does every week.

The love of faith that leads him to direct the parish festival also guides him as an extraordinary minister of holy Communion and as the head usher at St. Jude.

“My faith is very important to me,” Kidwell says. “I believe that everything I’m given, God gives it to me. So if you have a chance to do a lot of things, you do it.”

And when one of those things is a parish festival that brings great joy and builds bonds with a lot of people, it doesn’t get much better for Kidwell. †