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Culture
Lend Him Thine Ears
Clermont's official town crier knows how to attract attention
Bill Knepp has what it takes to be a town crier, including the right voice, costume – and national accreditation.It’s hard to attend a Clermont County parade without noticing Bill Knepp. He’s the guy in the red, white and blue Colonial costume, the one with the 150-year-old bell in his hand and the world’s largest replica of the Betsy Ross flag carried by Boy Scouts behind him.
Bill Knepp is the fellow bellowing, “Hear ye! Hear ye!!” over his PA system.
“You ring this bell and make your cry and people listen to you,” says Knepp. “You have the town’s attention.”
Knepp is the commissioned and official town crier for the city of Milford as well as Miami Township. He is one of 39 members of the American Guild of Town Criers, chosen for this honor by being a respected community leader. In the past two years, he’s headed up around 50 parades and attended numerous ribbon-cuttings and groundbreakings.
“You might describe the modern town crier as the historical newscaster,” he says.
Those ribbon-cuttings and groundbreakings might include schools, where he is often seen putting on a show in the auditorium. He holds seminars for “Town Criers N Waiting.”
“What we do, we have small three-cornered paper hats and small bells. We might get six to eight children up on stage, give them hats and bells, and have them yell out something about school and teachers. After they get their confidence, they are just belting it out,” Knepp says.
In addition to his hectic schedule as town crier, Knepp and his wife, Nancy, are involved with the Miami Glen Performing Arts Center, which they founded in 1995. The Knepps also started a weekly gathering for senior citizens at the Milford firefighters hall.
Knepp’s flair for attracting attention started in his 20s when he was state chaplain of the Ohio Jaycees, calling through hotel halls to announce his meetings.
“Back here, I felt that our parades were not what they should be, our Americanism was not what it should be,” he says.
Now, his participation “is as Americana as you can get.”
Story by Catherine Darnell
Photo by Michael W. Bunch
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