Twelve years ago, Bernie Keisling retired from a successful career with IBM, only to come to State College to work full time.
A Penn State alumnus, Keisling returned to Happy Valley after 35 years with the technology giant to take the reigns of the Central Pa 4th Fest. Now, after another dozen years running the immensely popular Independence Day celebration, he’s retiring once again (and for real this time).
“I thought I retired 12 years ago, and I didn’t,” Keisling says. “Now there I things I want to see and grandkids I want to spend time with.”
Despite joking that he “aged out” of his role running the massive, all-volunteer Fourth of July operation, Keisling still retains a distinct boyish charm. Perhaps there are wrinkles around his baby blue eyes, but they seem more likely to be the result of his frequent laughter instead of his age.
It’s not that running 4th Fest has worn Keisling down. In fact, he calls his dozen years at the helm “a labor of love” that he could never possibly regret.
“I didn’t feel any nervousness when I first started. I just didn’t know any better yet,” Keisling laughs.
After all, Keisling had run marketing for six Olympic Games – surely he could manage to get 12,000 fireworks into the air one night a year. And while he’s been more than successful in that endeavor, there were certainly challenges he didn’t anticipate.
For one, Keisling started to realize pretty quickly that running a staff of hundreds of volunteers wasn’t like running a staff of paid employees. Everyone had their own obligations and schedules, so Keisling says he had “to learn patience” to keep everything running smoothly.
But working with volunteers also has an upside, Keisling says. Everyone who comes out to work on 4th Fest is there because they’re passionate about creating something fun for their community – a trait they all share with Keisling.
Together, Keisling and his all-volunteer staff do everything to keep one of the top rated Fourth of July celebrations going year after year. They order the fireworks and set up the fireworks, they bring in entertainment from all over the country, they set up and tear down the festival grounds, and much more.
“Everyone’s always very proud of what we’re able to put on together,” Keisling says of his volunteer family. “They’re always all smiles. They’re just the best.”
With their help, Keisling has been able to accomplish many things he looks back fondly on: the year they brought a vintage B-52 bomber to 4th Fest, the year they brought a huge artificial waterfall to State College, the year they had someone jump out of a plane and parachute to the ground with the world’s largest American Flag.
But even more than all those things, Keisling says he will look back most fondly on the sea of smiling faces at 4th Fest each year.
This year Keisling is showing the ropes to Karl Libhart who will be executive director next year. Although Keisling knows its his last year, he says nothing feels any different – there’s simply too much to do to sit around and feel nostalgic.
But, as Keisling looks back on twelve years of fun, he knows a bittersweet feeling will set in soon.
“When you’ve dedicated 12 years of your life to something, there will always be sadness when it ends, but all that is overtaken by excitement and pride,” he says.
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