Fall Festival hosts “Chicken Dance” world record attempt in memory of beloved Nut Club member

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) – The lights are off now on West Franklin as day two of the Fall Festival has official ended.

The 103rd West Side Nut Club Fall Festival is continuing the tradition of bringing the community together through family fun and of course food.

Every year, the Fall Festival is put on by hundreds of volunteers of the West Side Nut Club who consider themselves a big family.

Tonight, club members paid tribute to one of their own long time members who passed away just days before this year’s event and attempted a world record in his honor.

We’re told that long time West Side Nut Clubber Dick Griese was a man whose life mission was making people smile.

He passed away at the beginning of the month, just days before one of his favorite events of the year kicked off, the West Side Nut Club Fall Festival.

Today, his friends and family carried on his lighthearted spirit despite his absence.

The Chicken Dance may not be an ordinary choice to pay tribute to someone who’s recently passed away, but for long time West Side Nut Clubber Dick Griese, there’s no tune more fitting.

“He was a guy that was just a vibrant guy, always ready to get the crowd ready,” says Griese’s friend Dennis Nettles.

“To know him was to love him,” he explains. “Before we had amateur hour, he would always go on the stage with his crazy socks and outfits and he would always do the chicken dance to get the crowd hyped up a little bit.”

What started as a way to turn up the energy became a long standing tradition at the Fall Festival.

When the 75-year-old passed away days before this year’s event, his friends knew they needed to carry on his legacy.

“Tonight we’re going to set the world record if we can and try to get people to come down do the Chicken Dance,” says Nettles.

Griese’s sons Jim and Dan were center stage, honoring the man who raised them the best way they knew

“This is the way it needs to be,” they tell us. “That’s his stage up there.”

The current world record for the largest chicken dance had 72,000 people participating, but who’s counting?

“We’ve got 72,152 tonight. A new world record on the chicken dance!” said Nettles on stage to the crowd as they finished dancing.

“He’s here in spirit, we know that Dick’s with us,” says Nettles.

If you saw crazy socks on West Side Nut Clubbers today, that was all to honor Griese.

The record may not be one for the Guinness Book, but if you ask anyone with the West Side Nut Club, Evansville’s Fall Festival set a new world record tonight on West Franklin Street.

Copyright 2024 WFIE. All rights reserved.