Jim Teetzel- Wilcox Industries Corp
Name: Jim Teetzel
Business: Wilcox Industries Corp
Role: CEO
This is Wilcox Industries 9th season as the Main Stage sponsor of PPAF’s summer season! What initially made you want to support the Festival?
It all goes back to my own childhood and one of my most meaningful memories. I was only 7 years old and my grandfather took me to an outdoor production of Mary Poppins in a waterfront park in our neighborhood just outside of Detroit. It was a tremendous event and I also remember how happy my grandfather was as well, and he told me the two of us were creating memories together. Over the years his words came to me over and over again, and I realized just how much our time together has really meant to me, and moreover how thankful I am to have that memory of us together. As I got older, I realized how much the memory probably meant to my grandfather as well, and now that he is gone I wanted to try and share that kind of an experience with others in our great community – and this venue was the perfect opportunity. And just a couple of years ago in 2017, Mary Poppins was our featured event – it was simply fantastic!
What’s the importance to the community of an organization like PPAF?
Thanks to our great community spirit and the leadership of our City Managers and tremendous support of numerous business partners, Portsmouth has become a very special place to live and raise our families. It’s important that our community does its part to continue in contributing to the rich history and culture that Portsmouth has come to be known for. The activities of the Prescott Park Arts Festival offer both a great venue for family entertainment, and also a framework for those thousands who attend and participate, to donate to some very worthy people and supportive things across our community.
How does your business benefit from partnering with a community facing organization like PPAF?
Our community has a rich history of giving, whether in support of our veterans and their families, or culture and the arts, we are blessed to have an opportunity to continue our support as a member of Portsmouth and greater seacoast community. The members of our Wilcox Team are proud participants within this very same community, and our overall contribution pays it forward in so many ways through civic involvement and quite simply through seeing the joy and excitement of all the kids running around the park and families and friends together smiling and laughing – completely at ease and taking a break to enjoy all the events. The dividends of supporting the event keeps growing across the community each year as the attendance grows, and that is great for all.
What’s your earliest recollection of attending a PPAF event? What’s your favorite PPAF memory/event?
Well I’ve been attending the festival for 37 years now and feel like it is truly one of the best traditions in our community. While I’ve enjoyed so many of the events, I’ve got to say that I’m a bit biased and my favorite event overall was the production of Mary Poppins back in 2017. It was fantastic and brought back some great memories.
What’s on the horizon for Wilcox Industries? Any new things your customers can expect as summer heats up?
We have a lot of great ongoing activity at Wilcox. Both our Newington facility and our workforce are seeing a lot of growth. We are almost complete with the addition of a new cafeteria and health club that we’ve been building for our employees. We have grown to over 220,000 square feet of leading-edge technology and manufacturing capability development with a trained workforce adding an additional 150 employees over the next 2 years. We are blessed to have so many great men and women as members of our Wilcox Team – many that are veterans that have served our country. We’re equally blessed to have an opportunity to support our tremendous customers made up of men and women who work to defend our freedoms and those first responders who protect and serve. We are even happier to know that so many of them have an opportunity to enjoy the festival this summer and through many more years to come!
At the opening concert of the 2023 season.
Welcome to the Wilcox Main Stage