June 14, 2025
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Steinke’s family affair

Father, family devoted to Bourbonnais fest

By Jeff Bonty
Bob Steinke, longtime chairperson of the Bourbonnais Friendship Festival, poses for a photo on Festival Street at The Grove where the 50th annual festival will be held later this month. Steinke, who has been involved with the festival since 1999, has stewarded the five-day celebration through the decades as his five children, and now 12 grandchildren, have joined him in volunteer roles and annual attendance.

Bob Steinke, longtime chairperson of the Bourbonnais Friendship Festival, poses for a photo on Festival Street at The Grove where the 50th annual festival will be held later this month. Steinke, who has been involved with the festival since 1999, has stewarded the five-day celebration through the decades as his five children, and now 12 grandchildren, have joined him in volunteer roles and annual attendance. (Tiffany Blanchette)

BOURBONNAIS – Bob Steinke is a third-generation electrician.

Although he retired six years ago, the Herscher High School graduate has plenty to keep him busy.

The 63-year-old Steinke is the chairman of the Bourbonnais Friendship Festival. He has been since 2006.

His ties to the Friendship Festival started in 1999.

Steinke worked with the electrical.

“That’s all I ever wanted to do, was just do the electrical work,” Steinke said as he took a break from working on an electrical project at the pavilion at The Grove at Robert Goselin Memorial Park.

Asked if he got roped in further each year of the festival, Steinke gave a short history:

“I went from electrical, then I became a concessions director. Then I [became] the carnival director. Then I went to second in charge. And then, pretty soon I was elected to be chairman.”

Through a lot of his involvement, Steinke’s five children – Autumn Smith, Katrina Stowe, Austin Steinke, Bobbi Sipple and Jordan Steinke – have been involved in the festival since they could walk, Steinke said.

“We enjoy it,” he said. “My kids enjoy it. They’ve grown up with it. Each one of my kids have been volunteers in different areas. Even when they move around the country, they become volunteers.”

Autumn and Bobbi both live in Alabama. The other three siblings live in Kankakee County, Steinke said.

This year being the 50th anniversary of the Friendship Festival, Steinke and his wife, Jane Piekarcyzk, said the siblings, their respective spouses and 12 grandchildren plan on attending the fest, which will take place June 25 - 29.

That all-hands-on-deck approach to volunteering was instilled in them by their father.

“I always felt like if everybody gave back a little bit, it’d be a whole lot better place to live. I don’t care what you like. Give back a little bit. That’s what I raised my kids to do,” Steinke said.

Piekarczyk said they hope some of the grandchildren want to be a part of the festival.

“We’re hoping they can do the same, and they’ve already started a little bit helping with the set-up and things like that,” she said. “They always come partake in all the rides and festivities every year. They’re super stoked.”

Piekarczyk has been involved with the festival since 1988, when a co-worker told her about it. She started with the parades and is now the festival’s secretary.

The family theme carries over to the festival where many of the group get together throughout the year.

“You form family-type bonds working on something for so long. We call it a festival family,” Steinke said.

“We get together. We watch football together in the wintertime. We have parties in the wintertime, you know, gatherings. And we just keep everybody together.”

The couple may not live, breathe and eat Friendship Festival, but it is never far away for the other 51 weeks of the year.

That situation has something to do with nine trailers of festival stuff that they keep at their house.

One of two buildings has the office, Steinke said that is where the couple can be found working on the next year’s festival.

There will come a day when it is time to hand over the keys to the festival.

“Everybody has different timeframes, and I guess everybody leaves for different reasons,” Steinke said. “Some people get mad. Some people have personal issues, failing family members. Some people just – it runs its course.”

“For us, we’ve found a lot of excuses, but haven’t used them yet. We’re still here. Yeah, that’s crazy.”