Bob Chambers has spent years investing in Murphysboro.

The owner of Silkworm, 2013 Apple Festival Parade Grand Marshal, and longtime supporter of organizations including the Kiwanis Club and Murphysboro Education Foundation, Bob has also helped preserve one of the festival’s most beloved traditions: the annual theme poster.

Through Silkworm, those posters are still produced using the traditional screen-printing process—on poster board, with no digital technology—just as they were decades ago.

But what struck me most about Bob is how hands-on he is.

After our interview, I planned to discuss a project with someone on the Silkworm team. Bob simply said he’d handle it himself. In fact, we had moved his interview up a few hours because he planned to spend the afternoon re-siding the Silkworm building himself.

That’s Bob. Whether he’s serving a customer, preserving an Apple Festival tradition, supporting local organizations or working on his own building, he’s not afraid to roll up his sleeves and do the work.

Thank you, Bob, for sharing your Murphysboro Apple Festival story—and for all the ways you continue to give back to the community.