TBOX 2011 (16th Annual)

TBOX2011, Festa’s 16th Annual Twelve Bars of Xmas Pub Crawl in Wrigleyville, Chicago, was a blowout of EPIC PROPORTIONS! Befitting the 16th Year of TBOX, Attendance was estimated at over 16,000 Crawlers, a 60% Jump from the year before, and the BIGGEST and BEST TBOX EVER!! The theme of TBOX2011 was “CAMP TBOX” – Summer Camp in Winter – With the Official Motto, “So This One Time, at TBOX…” – and what an incredible day of Camping it was!  Starting at 8AM with the Opening Ceremonies at Cubby Bear, TBOX2011 traversed 36 Wrigleyville Bars divided into 6 “Bunks” to spread our happy campers out among the bars… and by 1PM, for the first time in TBOX History, the Chicago Police Department decided to Close Down Clark Street to Auto Traffic, Reroute the CTA Clark 22 Bus, and set up barricades for the safety and comfort of our throngs of revelers!  Read More About TBOX2011 below…. Or, Click to View All Our Photos from the Event (On The Festa Parties Facebook Fan Page) (In Our Web Site Galleries).  (View Chicago RedEye Galleries: Click Here To View Gallery #1.  Click Here to View Gallery #2.)

The TBOX2011 Theme and Schedule

As announced in the late Spring of 2011, the theme for our 16th TBOX was… CAMP TBOX, and we assigned our campers into 6 Bunks to proceed throughout the day… The Crunchy Captains, The Kooky Cocoas, The Loopy Froots, The Trix-A-Canoes, The Apple Jacks & Jills, and The Fiber Flies. As added touches for the day of crawling, we installed our world-famous/infamous “Make Out Tents” in 10 of the bars, along with Camp Games that included inflatable Kiddie Pools lined with Twister Mats for those feeling athletic throughout the day!  This year also, we modified the schedule to have the “Round Robin” portion go from 9am to 9pm, with the Opening and Closing Ceremonies onstage as always at the Cubby Bear. This TBOX featured 36 Bars, Over 110,000 Stickers, Over 7,000 TBOX Virgins, an estimated 30,000 Boxes of Cereal, 19 Hours of Crawling Fun, and an all-around amazing day of partying! We also want to give huge thanks to our Primary Sponsor, Miller Lite, which has kept the fun flowing since 2003 at TBOX and our other events, along with Jagermeister and our Official Hotel Partner, Hyatt Regency Chicago. Also, a huge thanks to the volunteers from Chicago Dance Marathon (and Chris Festa’s Friends Who Helped) – who served as Bars Hosts at all of the TBOX Venues, Stamping Passports, Handing Out Stickers, Taking Pictures in the Frames, and Giving Cereal Shots. And Festa Parties was once again proud to be, this year, a Silver Sponsor of the Chicago Dance Marathon Benefit Event, taking place March 3, 2012.

Just A Few of the Great-Looking Groups from TBOX2011!!!

The TBOX 2011 Official Schedule Card from The TBOX Passport

The TBOX2011 Schedule with Camp-Themed Bunk Assignments

The TBOX2011 Opening and Closing Ceremonies

Since 2007, TBOX has begun and ended with Ceremonies taking place onstage at the Cubby Bear Wrigleyville.  This year featured an awesome countdown video — a tradition since 2008 — along with the presentation of the Royal Court, the Initiation of the year’s Number One, the cutting and distribution of the Green Wire, and new this year – Sing-A-Long Karaoke Campfire Songs with a TBOX Twist. Click Here to Watch the Mind-Blowing TBOX Countdown Video, Campfire Karaoke Songs, and Introduction to the Royal Court!  The Countdown Video, played before a screaming, raucous crowd, featured trippy clips from cereal commercials, scenes from past TBOX’s, and cameo lip-synch performances by Royal Court Members filmed on Mr. Festa’s own iPhone. Once the Countdown ended, the entire crowd of 1,800 sang along to songs like “I’m TBOX and I Know It”, “You Gotta Fight For Your Right to TBOX”, and “That’s What You Get For Waking Up at TBOX”! And When Jason, this year’s #1, Finally Came Out, he was dumped on with 30 Gallons of Cereal!  Let the Games Begin!!!

The TBOX2011 Royal Court and Number One

For TBOX 2011, The Honorable Mr. Jason Landman, at his 12th TBOX, was our VIP and Official Badge “Number One” for the day. As shown in the Royal Montage below, Jason played the role of “The Campfire” at TBOX, and was dapper in his black-and-red flaming club shirt and his eternal red-flame Mr. Heat Miser Wig.  Jason was officially named Number One in an elaborate secret ceremony that took place in late August, as 7 of us Royals drove out to Downers Grove, set up a tent on his front lawn, and had his wife call him out… when we then jumped out to ambush him and officially “propose” to him to be our 2011 Numero Uno. It was majestic!

We also as always were thrilled to have Fred and Fuji as #2 and #3, and last year’s Number One, Tracey, graciously accepted her official one-year “demotion” to #50 as she handed over the crown to her successor.  We also had wonderful TBOX Interns, including Tish and Lindsey, plus Sara, Amy, and Ashlie as new interns, and we had a dozen great new “Royal Rookies” who brought an awesome enthusiasm and energy to the proceedings.  The Royals of Camp TBOX filled and dressed for roles like “Head Counselor, Archery Instructor, Canteen Boy, Lumberjack, Totem Pole, Raccoon, Owl, Girl Scout, Dinner Bell, Backpacker, Band Camp Girl (and Flute), Evil Forest Rangers” — and many other hilarious outfits.

The TBOX2011 Royal Court - An Amazing Group!!!

One of the most wonderful things about TBOX through the years has been the incredible costumes that over 90% of Crawlers deck out in.  Since our first real “theme” in 2009, crawlers are given the option of dressing either in Christmas Gear or that year’s theme, and we had an incredible panoply of every crazy holiday and camp costume you could imagine… and dressing sexy was in fashion at TBOX as always, despite the fact that this was the coldest TBOX on record, with the mercury dipping below 20F, despite clear, sunny skies. Below are some more pictures from outside the bars and the 3400-3600 strip of Clark Street, closed down to traffic!

Street Scenes from TBOX2011

Bar Scenes from TBOX2011

What’s TBOX Without CEREAL??

Where Did This All Happen??

We greatly appreciate our partnership and cooperation with all of the TBOX bars, from Full Shilling in the North, to Houndstooth in the South… pretty much, TBOX dominated and brought incredible festivity to the Wrigleyville Neighborhood from 8AM throughout the entire day.  All there really is to say, is, Didn’t We Almost Have It All?

All The Places We ROCKED on 12/10/11 at the 16th Annual TBOX!

Thanks Again to Our Sponsors, Customers, Workers, Partners, and Royals!!

We again want to thank Miller Lite, Jagermeister, Hyatt Regency Chicago, and others who contributed for us, including Clif Bar, which provided us with 10,000 sample bars to distribute into all our campers’ goodie bags, as well as Red Bull, who provided us with a lot of product to get us through the last 3 weeks before TBOX!  Thanks as well to all the TBOX Bars, the TBOX Royals who helped us out so much, the TBOX Interns, our TBOX Customer Service staff, the Chicago RedEye, and our TBOX Security Staff, as and most especially our marketing and consulting partners, Mix Media.

Miller Lite, TBOX Sponsor Since 2003

Thanks to Clif Bar for the 10,000 Bars given to TBOX2011 Campers!