About two and a half years ago, Jim Kidwell packed up his family from Las Vegas, Nevada, and moved to Sallisaw in hopes of providing a more stable environment and quality of life with education and sports for his three little daughters
In addition, Kidwell contributed his creativity, talents and resources to provide a venue and event that was fun and exciting for the children and youth of Sequoyah and surrounding counties.
Kidwell is part owner of the event, the Wicked Willow Fun Festival, which officially starts at 5pm on Friday (today).
“We are very excited to have this in Sallisaw. We will be offering our Wicked Willow Fall Festival every weekend throughout October at the Willow Valley Venue located at 2510 W. Lennington Road in Sallisaw, and we invite everyone to come out,” he said .
The festival will include a pumpkin patch, bounce houses and slides, an evil house of horrors, a zombie shooting gallery, an evil trail ride, yard games, music and more to provide participants with all the fun and the excitement they can enjoy throughout the festival. on weekends in October, Kidwell said.
Admission to the Fall Festival is free and rides are $5 each. Bouncers and slides are unlimited and pumpkins are $10.
Kidwell said the event will also offer group discounts for field trips, parties and more.
“This is actually the second time we’ve held this event. Last year we did one in Poteau because my brother is going there, but this year we wanted to do one in Sallisaw. We’ve had so many calls from schools in Muldrow, Bell and others in Adair County and Fort Smith, Ark., who are making plans to bring their students here for field trips,” he said.
Kidwell said she has always had a creative mind. He grew up in Las Vegas. He has held jobs like being a DJ and spent most of his life in the entertainment business. He is also hired by Wendy’s to take care of all the electronic equipment. He specializes in “animatronics” that appear in some scary movies and the festival will include lots of ghosts, goblins and witches, which talk and move and can be scary but fun, he said.
Kidwell, who owns a business that provides bounce houses and slides for parties and other special events, said some of them will be available for children. There will also be jello ball battles that are like paintball games, he said.
“We partnered with the venue here in Sallisaw to put on this event. We will also have some students from the Sallisaw High School drama class helping with the festival and we are planning a family appreciation night of the host program on the 13th ‘October,’ he said.
Kidwell said making the move with his wife, Amie, and daughters to Sallisaw has been a good thing for them. The girls enjoy their sports of basketball and softball and the oldest just received her nursing assistant certificate from ICTC’s Nursing Program, she said.
“I’m just looking forward to celebrating this festival in Sallisaw. We invite everyone to come out for a really fun and scary time,” he said.
For more information about the festival, contact Kidwell at 918-629-9008.
Only People Just Folks is your TIMES way of honoring the everyday people of Sequoyah County, recognizing their unique talents, personalities, work, skills and more. Your TIMES appreciates the cooperation of each Just Folks and the public’s nominations for this feature. If you know someone you think might make a good story, please contact Amie or Lynn at 918-7754433.
