West Side Nut Club sets up for Fest
Every year, there is a street festival on Franklin Avenue for the duration of a week that attracts over 150,000 people to the West Side. The festival consists of carnival attractions, free entertainment, window displays, selling booths, talent competitions and on the last day an enormous parade. The second largest street festival, second only to Mardi Gras, raises thousands of dollars for southwestern Indiana.
Since 1921, the West Side Nut Club has taken on the task of putting on the Fall Festival. We all know that the Fall Festival is the most fascinating event in the month of October, but does anyone really know what goes on behind the finished product?
The Nut Club has been an active club since 1921, when a group of businessmen decided that an organization was needed to attract people to the West Side. They soon put together an organization that would be known for many years after. The name “Nut Club” was chosen to represent themselves as the “acorns from which the mighty oaks would grow.” The standing number of Nut Club memberships is a limit of 300 members and 35 committees, which are currently filled.
Members of the Nut Club not only prepare for the festival, but work during the festival everyday. Twenty-five members are stationed at ticket booths, twenty-five at the lighthouse, fifty as crowd control, and two to five answering phones for the Fall Fest.
Getting ready for the Fall Festival is a lengthy procedure that lasts from the first of the year to the week of the festival. On the first of the year, the previous chairman hands over the “big book”, which holds all of the information for the past year’s festival, to the new elected chairman giving him a head start. The procedures are anything from getting permits to clearing the area for rides and games to be set up.
Every year the club rents out 126 spaces costing $35 per square foot. For the most part the booths stay in the same space throughout the years. In fact, there is little change to the festival at all. The only changes this year consist of the paid entertainment and one new ride, the “Twister”. The Twister holds 40 people and rotates in a circular motion like that of a Round House. This ride is actually a combination of a Round House and The Scrambler.
Every year there is a new ride added to the Fall Festival, from the Ring of the Fire and the Zipper, to the Skater and the Starship. However, the “footprint”, or area for the rides is fairly limited. Challenges are very few when it comes down to it. In fact the only challenges that the Nut Club even acknowledged were the weather and street clean up. The street cleaners the club have now don’t know how much longer they will be in business, and the machines themselves are extremely old and outdated.
The weather is always a worry when thinking about the festival. In fact, in ‘93 it rained for two to three day, costing group over half the normal profit.
“If we were to lose one Friday or Saturday to rain, we’d lose half the profit,” explained chairman Brian Zeller. “Most of these organizations raise their annual salary at the Fall Festival alone.”
Every year the Nut Club raises thousands of dollars to give back to the community. While the profits go all over the city and some of the Southwestern Indiana community, the majority stays on the West Side. However, they have a bigger goal than raising money for Southern Indiana, the Nut Club’s has their very own personal goal.
“Every year we strive to have a fun, safe Fall Fest,” said Zeller
With an annual budget of about $190,000, last year the profit was a whopping $230,000. This doesn’t include the money that the individual organizations make off of parking tickets. Last year alone the Boy Scouts of Evansville Indiana made a little over $5,000 off of a parking lot.
Last year the Nut Club donated around $25,000 to Reitz and Mater Dei High Schools for funding and scholarships. They also donated money to the grade schools, the fire departments, and the police departments in Evansville.
While devoting themselves to the Fall Festival, the members rarely get to see their families that week. They spend numerous hours at the festival everyday. From setting up at 9 am to cleaning up the streets after the festival ends at 10 pm, the members are kept busy the entire time.
“After the last day, we all go home to check to see if our wives are still there.” joked Zeller.
After the festival is over, the club holds an appreciation dance in the second week of November. The dance is used to thank the members and their families for their work at the Fall Festival.
The hard work put in the festival by the members of the West Side Nut Club is evident by the overall success of this iconic event.
