Published: June 11, 2009 06:12 pm         

Community celebrates native son with four-day festival

Vincennes — The 4th Annual Red Skelton Festival kicked off in Vincennes on Thursday with three family-friendly and free events. The public is invited to attend.

A Clown Pie Fight will take place at 10:15 a.m. today on the lawn at the Red Skelton Performing Arts Center. The event is sponsored by the Red Skelton Clown School. The Skelton Center is located on the Vincennes University campus on Red Skelton Boulevard.

At nightfall, Fresh Air Flicks will present the movie “Southern Yankee,” starring Red Skelton. This outdoor event will take place at Main Street’s Patrick Henry Square located between First and Second streets. Viewers are encouraged to bring lawn chairs or blankets. Fresh Air Flicks is sponsored by the Vincennes/Knox County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Saturday events open downtown with Paint the Town Red from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Patrick Henry Square. There will be free stage entertainment, children’s activities including face painting and inflatables, and food and craft booths.

This event is sponsored by the CVB, Knox County Chamber of Commerce, and The Original Company.

At 11 the downtown area will resound with an audio broadcast of Red Skelton’s famous Commentary on the Pledge of Allegiance. At the conclusion of “Red’s Pledge,” Parade Marshall Ronald McDonald will lead the Parade of a Thousand Clowns featuring the Junior Joey graduates of the Art of Clowning for Kids program. The parade will start at Second and Hart streets, proceeding on Hart to Sixth Street, then to Main Street, and conclude at Patrick Henry Square.

A post-parade “Clown Mingle” will offer a time for clowns to meet and greet the crowd.

Red Skelton Clown School students will provide entertainment from 1 to 3 p.m. at Patrick Henry Square. At 2 p.m., a doughnut eating contest will memorialize Red Skelton’s famous doughnut skit. Participants should register at the Information Booth at Second and Main streets.

The merriment will continue with the Red Skelton Clown Follies at 7 p.m. at VU’s Red Skelton Performing Arts Center. From slap-stick comedy to the mysteries of magic, this lively variety show will feature a number of Ringling Brothers Circus clowns. Ticket prices for the various seating levels at this family-friendly event are $20, $15, and $10. Tickets may be purchased in advance at the Skelton Center box office, (812) 888-4039, or online at redskelton@vinu.edu.

The Festival will conclude on Sunday with an Ice Cream Social followed by the premiere of a newly release documentary on the life Red Skelton. “The Prologue: Red’s Journey from Vincennes to Hollywood and Home Again,” is a 75-minute documentary that features old-time Vincennes places and people, Red’s family, and his home in Hollywood, just as Red photographed them.

Narrated by actor Jamie Farr (who portrayed Corporal Klinger in the television series, M.A.S.H.), this poignant story is integrated with clips from Red’s marathon dancing, vaudeville, and fellow comedians.

The Ice Cream Social will be at 1 p.m. and the show will begin at 2 p.m. at the Skelton Center. Tickets cost $10 for adults and $5 for children 12 and under. Tickets may be purchased in advance at the Skelton Center box office, (812) 888-4039, or online at redskelton@vinu.edu. The Clown Follies, Ice Cream Social, and documentary premiere are sponsored by the Red Skelton Museum Foundation, www.redskeltonmuseum.org.