NORMAL — There will be no fare of Bill at this year’s Sugar Creek Arts Festival.

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But his quirky presence, always a welcome enigma, will be felt all the same — perhaps through its very absence; perhaps through the new festival award being unveiled in his name and honor.

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For the event’s 29th year, Saturday and Sunday in uptown Normal, D. Bill — as he was known to his many fans — will have to remain a felt presence rather than a physical entity. A fixture at Sugar Creek for as long as McLean County Arts Center director Doug Johnson can remember, Bill died in January at the venerable age of 89. The retired Caterpillar toolmaker’s claim to Sugar Creek fame were the discarded utility poles he transformed into lean sentries crowned by slightly, nay, very, off-kilter heads.​ Lean and sentry-like himself, Bill looked right at home amid his tall creations. “He was cantankerous, and he certainly was a character,” says Johnson. “But he was also a very warm and generous guy.”

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Bill, of rural Danvers, once referred to his singular creations as “oddball stuff.” Later, a Chicago Tribune profile tagged him, in the best sense, “warped as his wood.”

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Warped or oddball, or both, Bill and his creations were beloved and highly prized — once encountered, never forgotten. “He carved a special niche for himself,” says Johnson. “And there was a real self-knowledge that he was making these rather quirky figurative representations. Certainly other artists held him in high regard — his work was so well done.”

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Because of that regard, “if you’re a serious art collector, or artist, in Bloomington-Normal, you’ve probably got a D. Bill piece in your collection,” added Johnson, who owns one himself (there’s also one in the McLean County Arts Center’s collection). 

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Born Darwin Bill, he adopted the D. Bill moniker after people kept confusing his last name for his first name. Bill’s Sugar Creek appearances in recent years had diminished somewhat as his health began to fail. “He hadn’t been up to creating new work or participating, but he rallied last year and brought essentially his remaining work,” says Johnson. “I do think he knew this would be his last festival.”​  Before the first morning was over, everything had sold: no surprise there.

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The legend of D. Bill will live on, courtesy the new D. Bill Award established in his honor and to be awarded to an artist working, as he did, with recyclable materials.​  “There are actually quite a few artists at the festival who work with found materials, including jewelers and those who make yard art with auto parts and other materials,” says Johnson

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The $200 award was endowed via a pole piece donated by the Bill family and auctioned off at a recent McLean County Arts Center event.