Kindleberger Summer Festival Alumni Committee
We are an informal volunteer group of Festival alumni and friends who are coming together to celebrate the past, present, and future of the Kindleberger Summer Festival of the Performing Arts. We came together with our focus on developing relationships and contributing to the celebration of the Festival’s 40th anniversary on July 9, 2022. We continue to seek to bring past and present participants together, and to thank the community of Parchment and greater Kalamazoo, MI for 40+ years of support for the Festival!
Our Goals:
- Tell the story of why community art matters and the impact the Festival has had on the lives of many.
- Bring past and present supporters together to thank the community for 40+ years of support for the Festival.
2022 One Day Celebration Included:
A Pop-Up Museum of Festival History:
Come see t-shirts, buttons, signs, and photos from the festival across the ages. Have your own photos or memories to share? You can bring them to display on our tables or send us your photos for a slideshow. Special sections include:
• Record your own Festival Story at a StoryCorps recording station.
• Timeline of Festival history: We need photos from every part of the festival! Were you part of the parade, the children’s play, the concerts, the running race, the craft fair, the auto show, the pancake breakfast, or the fundraising campaign to build a permanent stage? You are part of the story.
• Roots in Kindleberger, showcasing where alumni of the festival are now and some of the projects they are involved within Parchment and across the country.
• In Memoriam, a tribute to beloved Festival supporters who are no longer with us.
• Art making: There will be a station for the young and young at heart to make their own commemorative poster.
• Shooting Comet Photo Booth: Take your picture and be part of the Festival celebration story!
• A Gift Shop: We will have anniversary t-shirts, buttons, and a fine art benefit print for sale to support the anniversary activities. Any additional funds raised will be donated to support visiting artists at the Festival.
A Play in A Day
Playwright and performer Elizabeth Keiser, an alum of the Festival now based in Providence, RI, will present a two-hour workshop, resulting in a play. All ages welcome.
To contact us with questions, please use the contact form. Click the Alumni Committee and in the comments, please use Attn: Elizabeth Keiser.
Founded in Italy more than 30 years ago, this costume and puppetry troupe has performed in Indonesia, Bermuda, Ireland, and the Vancouver Olympics—just to name a few. In the Festival tradition of bringing in dynamic visiting guests, BIG NAZO will stage a participatory performance during the parade and welcomes both volunteer performers and assistants!
Other Components Beyond the One Day Celebration
Benefit Art Print: A special fine art print reproduction of former Parchment artist Kathleen Keckler’s watercolor painting of The Fiddler on the Roof from 1987 is available for purchase. Now based in southern California, Kathleen’s three children acted in Festival musicals including Fiddler, Barnum, The Music Man, and more. Kathleen is donating all proceeds from print sales to the Alumni fund.
Kindleberger Summer Festival collection at the Parchment Community Library: Photo collections, t-shirts, programs, and memorabilia, were collected and shared via this project.
Story Corps archive: All stories recorded at our StoryCorps booth at the Pop-Up Museum and the Parchment Community Library will be digitally archived at the Library of Congress. Learn more about the initiative at: https://storycorps.org/discover/archive/. To contact us with questions, please use the contact form. Click the Alumni Committee and in the comments, please use Attn: Lindsay Campbell or Karen Woodworth.
Join us!
Our planning group needs help with social media, organizing volunteers, taking pictures, gathering museum materials, and more. If interested, please contact us using the contact form. Click the Alumni Committee and let us know. Thank you!
Ben H. Tanis Passed Away Tuesday, December 27, 2022.
The Kindleberger Summer Festival of the Performing Arts committee would like to take this time to remember beloved community member Ben Tanis, who has recently passed away. Mr. Tanis was an adored wood shop teacher in the Parchment School District for many years and continued his service in the community in many other ways after he retired. He did so much for the Summer Festival of the Performing Arts as well, helping design and build wonderful sets for the plays and musicals.
Zen Campbell, Kindleberger Summer Festival of the Performing Arts originator, shared this tribute:
“Ben Tanis joined the Kindleberger Summer Festival during the summer of 1985, as we produced our first musical, The Music Man. He played a traveling salesman in the cast, and was a critical guide and worker on our set-building crew, establishing from the outset that he was both a player and a vital worker–roles that would continue for many years. Ben exemplified the creative spirit at the core of the Festival: building community through the arts.
And, as many within this community have enjoyed, his involvement was a family event, with his daughters, then grandchildren taking their places each summer in our beautiful park. Ben’s legacy will endure through the lives of children taught in the Parchment Schools, as well as so many touched by his generous creativity as it was expressed and shared through Kindleberger Arts.
Thank you, Ben. It was wonderful to see you again this past year; you will always be a part of the Kindleberger Summer Festival.”
