Jim and Kimberly Schulte are honored to be named the Honorary Parade Marshals at the Poultry Days Grand Parade.
The parade will begin at 11:00 am on Saturday June 10, 2023 as part of the three-day festival to be held June 9-11, 2023.
As a Versailles native, Poultry Days has long been part of Kim’s life beginning with her father, Riley Brandon, who helped cook the chicken at some of the earliest festivals, and her mother, Jeanne, who chaired the Miss Chick pageant from 1976-1999. After Kim was named Miss Chick 2nd Runner up in 1971, she joined her mother in co-chairing the pageant from 1976-1999. Kim also served on the Poultry Days Board of Directors from 1984-1995.
Jim grew up in Dayton, OH, and from the example of intentional service to their own local community set by his mother, Jim wasted no time getting involved upon moving to Versailles when he married Kim in 1981. He joined Kim by serving on the Poultry Days Board of Directors from 1986 1995 and was chairman of the parade before working his way to Head Chairman in 1994.
As Head Chairman, Jim, along with Kim, launched a rebranding and promotional strategy leading up to the event by introducing the “Find PD Rooster” contest at local businesses and by initiating painting chickens on the roads in Versailles. The iconic chicken that Kim designed, and what began as just their family riding around town painting the major intersections one weekend has now been a community staple for over 30 years. Under their leadership, Poultry Days allocated resources toward including in both the parade and festival highly entertaining performance groups in order to further attract people outside of the community and make the festival a destination for people in surrounding counties and even the Miami Valley. In order to help this wider audience locate the festival, Jim created the “All Roads Lead to Poultry Days” map which has been published on the back of the Poultry Days program since 1994.
Outside of Poultry Days, Jim and Kim have made it their priority throughout the years to create opportunities and elevate resources for the youth in our community. Together with other local families, they started the youth soccer program in Versailles in 1993 and, using Jim’s knowledge from his prior soccer career, provided the infrastructure and training for coaches and referees in a sport that was relatively unknown to this area at the time. They served as coaches in the youth soccer program for 10 years. Jim has also coached youth baseball, softball and basketball, and Kim was the high school basketball cheerleading coach. In 2002, they provided the leadership and land to coordinate the first home cross country meet for Versailles, the Tour de Sewer, which continues to run now over 20 years later.
