TBOX 2009 (14th Annual)

This is the story of TBOX2009… to jump directly to all the photos, Click Here!

Over 7,200 people participated in TBOX 2009, Festa’s 14th Annual Twelve Bars Of Xmas Pub Crawl in Wrigleyville, Chicago. Taking place on December 12, this was to date the BIGGEST TBOX ever! Starting at The Cubby Bear at 8:30AM, and ending at The Cubby Bear at Closing Time, it was a Beautiful Day of Winter Madness, Crazy Costumes, Manic Energy, 73,000 Stickers, The Best Royal Court Ever, Cereal Absolutely Everywhere, Spectacular Opening Ceremonies, Dramatic Closing Ceremonies, and a total blast for over 18 hours across 36 bars, with people coming in from all over the USA and the World to go WIRE TO WIRE and enjoy what has become one of Chicago’s most beloved annual events. TBOX2009 was the first to feature a fully-developed “THEME” — because “Twelve Bars Of Xmas” just isn’t a theme enough in itself, right?  And the them was, the TBOX CLASS OF 2009… a High School Yearbook Theme in which everyone was encourage to dress as their favorite high school character or cliche… and the event was split into 4 round-robin routes named after famous fictional high schools… Rydell High, Save Ferris, Ridgemont High, and Bayside Tigers. It was an amazing day of school spirit!

The TBOX Opening Ceremonies, which humbly started in 2003 with a few people standing on Chris Festa’s porch under the El Tracks, blossomed into lavish and spectacular Broadway-style stage show. At approximately 10:55AM, the Attandance Bell Rang at the Cubby Bear, as a packed house of onlookers heard the message, “Principal Festa will Address the Student Body in 5 Minutes” — Immediately following, on every TV Screen, a giant countdown clock counted the hundredths of a second until the ceremonies were to begin in 5 minutes. When the final bell rang, 4 dignitaries… Fuji, Biggins, Tracey K, and Sarah K… walked to the Corners of the Stage with Dark Sunglasses. Then, Mr. Festa and the 6 TBOX Interns walked to the Center of the Stage, and as Music Played, they flipped signs reading TBOX IS HERE / TBOX IS NOW / and… ZERO DAYS TILL TBOX! Cereal showered through the audience, and then, with POUR SOME SUGAR ON ME playing, each of the 4 TBOX CLASS OF 2009 “High Schools” marched out one by one as each Royal Court Member was DOUSED with cereal. Once they all took their places onstage, Mr. Festa made the announcement, set to the Prince Intro Organ Music,

“DEARLY BELOVED, WE ARE GATHERED HERE TODAY FOR THIS THING CALLED TBOX… IT’S A DAY OF EVERLASTING HAPPINESS, WIRE TO WIRE, AND THAT’S A MIGHTY LONG TIME… AND WE ARE HERE TODAY, TO INTRODUCE THIS YEAR’S VALEDICTORIAN, NUMBER ONE, HARROOOLLLD!!!”

Then, The TBOX2009 NUMBER ONE, Harold Woods, burst through the Gift Wrap Paper and was smothered from all sides with over 50 boxes of cereal as “Let’s Go Crazy” blasted from the speakers! And then… after partying at Cubby Bear from 830AM to Noon, the 4 Teams Split Up and went on their routes around Wrigleyville, to do the crawl and prepare to re-unite 10 hours later!

THE TBOX CLASS OF 2009 ROYAL COURT

The Royal Court are the each year’s TBOX VIPs, those with the lowest badge numbers. For the Class of 2009 Theme, each RC Member was assigned a Role in the faculty or student body. Among these were Mr. Festa, Principal; Harold Woods, Valedictorian; Mr. Fuji, Guidance Counselor; J-Lo, Head Librarian; Tony Yaniz, Most Likely To Succeed; Biggins/Goze/Bill, School Janitors; as well as designees for the Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior Class Presidents; Rich Kid with a Camaro; Homecoming Queen, Head Cheerleader, and many more.

The TBOX2009 Royal Court Class Picture

Harold Woods, The TBOX "Number One" for 2009

Since TBOX7, we’d had the tradition of “THE TBOX FRAME” — evolving from a handwritten, hand-cut piece of plasterboard to a professionally printed sign. This year, we had 17 of the participating bars making their Own Frames with the name of the bar, a great way for people to take picture and show all the places they visited… we also had frames for the Beginning and End at the Cubby Bear. It was a fun way for us to get even more fun photos for everyone to take during the day. Also, the tradition of fun stickers that started at TBOX7 in 2002, and grew and grew until this year, when we had over 73,000 total! Each Royal Court Member had 500 of their own stickers… Each Bar had between 300 and 2500 stickers… we also had the Cubby Bear Morning and Evening Stickers, the Make Out Stickers, the High School Stickers, the “Committed Monogamous” stickers, the TBOX VIRGIN stickers, the “Will BLANK for Cereal” stickers, the “I Met Mr. Festa” Stickers, and many, many more. There were stickers everywhere, on every one.

As each of the Schools completed their circuit around Wrigleyville, we came to the Closing Ceremonies back at the Cubby Bear. In the morning, we had given out Green Wire to everyone; at the end, we gave Red Wire, and if you got both, you had officially made it WIRE TO WIRE. At approximately 10:05PM, Mr. Festa and members of the Royal Court took the stage to officially declare that we had reached “Bar #12″ and that those who had gone Wire to Wire had graduated. 3 Times, the crowd shouted, WIRE TO WIRE, BABY!!!! And, Mr. Festa made the officially pronouncement that all the TBOX VIRGINS in the Crowd — WERE NO LONGER VIRGINS! As the Cereal flew for the final time, the great band ROCK CANDY took the stage and played awesome tunes through closing time, and as the last partier crawled home sometime in the wee hours, another TBOX was in the books! Didn’t we almost have it all???

Montage of the 4 "High Schools" of TBOX2009

Promo Posters Featuring Royal Court Members J-Lo, Fuji, Angie, and Seattle Greg

Some of the Bar Frames, a TBOX2009 Innovation

The TBOX 2009 "Class Schedule" Card.

2009 Promo Graphic Depicting T-Shirts and Participant Pack

The Ubiquitous TBOX2009 Gym Bag (not to be confused with The Ubiquitous Mr. Jeff Davis) - Our sponsor generously provided these, but made waaaay more than we needed. As of May, 2009, there are still over 1,400 in Chris's Garage... but you'll see them all over town!