01/31/2024
Today is the day! Today we celebrate our 50th Anniversary of providing unique and exciting entertainment to Chicago and beyond!
In 1974, we began as a sporting goods and novelty store that sold everything from baseball bats to custom-printed t-shirts to gag gifts and Halloween costumes, well before you could buy them at the big box stores. The Addison, IL store had video games where kids from surrounding neighborhoods would gather to spend their quarters after school. Our inventory grew over the years to include jukeboxes, pinball machines, slot machines, neon signs, celebrity autographs, and antique advertising. Our finds still decorate many local Portillo's Restaurants to this day!
One day, our rental business was born when a customer asked if Wally could bring one of the jukeboxes to her house to play music during a party she was having. The inventory list grew into interesting offerings like Sumo Wrestling suits, the Inflatable Velcro Wall, Human Bowling, the Bungee Run, and Beer Keg Racers that we took on National promotional tours for companies like Budweiser, McDonald's Corporation, and CNA Insurance. Wally was disc jockeying his way through the United States with his iconic '57 Chevy Rock n Roll Oldies Show in the height of the Fabulous 50's craze. There were the commercial set rentals with the 1985 Chicago Bears, Chicago Bulls Halftime Shows in the Jordan Era, the "Home Alone 2" launch party, the Mario Andretti Indy 500 Gala, and Michelle Obama's "Drink Up" campaign party, to name a few.
In 1998 we reimagined the 3,000 square foot Tommy Bartlett Gyrotron Arcade in the heart of downtown Wisconsin Dells. One of the most memorable arcade pieces was an electric chair where customers inserted a dollar to simulate being executed, complete with smoke, sound, and "shocking" handles! We brought one of the first Krazy Mirror Maze attractions to the Midwest and reinvented the Dells Haunted Mansion attraction. Soon after, we expanded the Museum of Historic Torture Devices in the Dells to include special exhibits of John Wayne Gacy and Ed Gein.
We continue to be one of the premiere event rental companies in the Midwest with our collective mix of rides, games, attractions, and equipment. We are humbled and thankful for the 50 years of blood, sweat, and tears Wally and Terry have put into the corporation. Although our offerings have changed with the times and evolved over the decades, the hard work and the grit have always been there through their example.
We are blessed and grateful to continue to serve the Chicagoland area in a direction and magnitude that our parents could have only dreamed of. THANK YOU TO ALL OF OUR LOYAL CUSTOMERS!
HERE'S TO THE NEXT 50 YEARS!!🍾🥂
