Summerville Journal Scene
Summerville Kiwanis President Bill Sloan said the club wasn’t raising the funds they needed to be as benevolent as they want to be.
“It was a very painful decision to make,” Sloan said. “The competition of food at the festival has cut into the profit margin.”
The Kiwanis stand has been a part of the festival for about thirty years, Sloan said, adding that the Summerville Kiwanis Club started in 1979.
Kiwanis will instead raise funds through a golf tournament at Miler Country Club on May 23, Sloan said.
“We want the golf tournament to be more successful than the burger stand,” he said.
Kiwanis raises funds for the benevolence of children, according to Sloan.
“The Terrific Kids program is the biggest thing we do. Our club is devoted to Dorchester District 2 schools.”
Every month the club goes to schools to give awards for students showing the most improvement.
“It’s just positive reinforcement. Whether we’re adults or children, we need positive reinforcement.”
Sloan said the Key Club at Summerville High School is the high school version of Kiwanis. Each June and July Kiwanis gives as much scholarship money to students as they can, Sloan said.
The hamburger stand, which was located at West 5th South Street near the Cuthbert Community Center, was a major part of the festival. About 20 people grilled food at one time.
For many years the late Jack Wilbanks, a Kiwanis member and former Town Administrator, would be about 20 feet up a tree in a deer hunting stand. With a wireless microphone Wilbanks would talk passers-by into buying hamburgers and international sausages, according to former Town Planner Joe Christie, who worked for Wilbanks at Town Hall from 1984 to 2001, when Wilbanks passed away.
“When someone he knew walked by he’d call out their name,” Christie said. “They’d look around and have a good laugh.”
Wilbanks would pre-sell about 10,000 tickets for the stand, Christie recalls. Many pre-sale tickets weren’t redeemed and many employers would buy tickets as a thank you to their employees, Christie said.
“They were always one of the first stands erected. They would keep a refrigerator truck to keep hamburger patties.
“The main thing was Jack’s enthusiasm about Kiwanis Club and being up there in that tree. Jack had been there as long as they had the stand.
“Some people would mainly go to the festival to get a Kiwanis hamburger. They weren’t interested in anything else. They were good burgers. They would blow smoke into the crowd to get people’s taste buds going.”
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