TBOX 7 (2002)

This is Part II of the History of TBOX, as Narrated by Founder Christopher Festa. Enjoy! If you’d like to View All The Photos from TBOX7, Click Here.

It was the Spring of 2002, and I was still in exile in California, until a few fortuitous twists of fate not only brought me back to Chicago on May 8th of that year (I remember the day!), but home to a new home, housesitting for my friend and living in the heart of Wrigleyville, at Clark and Newport, an address which would become a part of TBOX history over the next 4 years. Coming back into the Chicago scene, I felt like I’d been gone a long time, and I didn’t know if anyone would remember me or if I would still fit in. But a strange thing happened… everywhere I went, people were like “Hey, it’s the TBOX Guy! TBOX was awesome! When is TBOX this year? I had a blast at TBOX! I met you at TBOX!” It was then I realized, wow, through all this time, TBOX literally was my lifeline back to Chicago. In each of the past 2 years, it was THE one thing that kept pulling me back, like the cord connected to an astronaut on a spacewalk.

One of the First Recorded Cereal Shots, Tammy L. at Sheffield's at TBOX7 in 2002

TBOX7: The Triumphant Return (2002)

I WAS “BACK IN BUSINESS, BABY!” And being back, half a block away from the TBOX site instead of 2500 miles away, I was determined with a VENGEANCE to make TBOX7 the BIGGEST and BEST TBOX EVER, a blowout of epic proportions. By late September, I was already well into TBOX planning and promotion, and as the fever pitch built, I was spending more and more time on it , despite being employed full-time. I knew it was a good sign when I had over a dozen friends flying in for it, from LA, Seattle, Florida, New York, and all over the country.

TBOX7, 2002 - The First Frame

With 10 people staying at my house, we all went out the night before, where I strenuously avoided doing shots, and managed to get in bed by 1AM. A month earlier, thanks to my friends Amir and “Red-Haired” Michelle, we had decided to try this new thing… making badges for TBOX Participants… and in my living room, my friends and I used the hand-laminating machines to prepare over 1,500 badges, then hole-punch them, and cut pieces of yarn to put them around peoples’ necks!  Thanks especially to my friend “Wisconsin Kate” who ran to Walgreens to buy more string in the middle of the day!

Badges Made their First Appearance at TBOX7 in 2002

Once the badges were made, there was the issue… who should get Badge #0001? Like NASA having to decide between Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to be the first man on the moon, I made the call to reward my good friend, LA Michelle, with being the first woman to be number one at TBOX, and the first person ever with the Badge #1. Sadly, despite numerous pleadings, she has not been back to TBOX since, as of 2011. She told me she wanted to go out on top, and since you can’t be #1 twice, this may have been her last TBOX…

LA Michelle, The First Badged TBOX Number One in TBOX History, TBOX7, 2002

TBOX7 dawned to a crisp and sunny day. As we gathered the last of the badges and other preparations, we began 2 traditions that would last through TBOX11 - A) Anyone who wanted meeting at my house beforehand, and B) Staging an Olympic-Style Tiki Torch Relay Ceremony starting on my front steps and going to Bar #1, marching down the middle of the street with the torches, singing the Olympic Theme. This was also the first year I had met Fuji, and when we reached the historic accord in which he would have his Christmas pub crawl the first weekend in December, and mine on the second weekend… which is why it is always the Second Saturday in December to this day.

Future Royalty but Then-Unknown Marina and Jodi Z at TBOX7 in 2002. They're doing the old tradition of holding up One Finger to Signal, "Bar Number One".

TBOX7 turned out to be one of the happiest and most magnificent TBOX’s ever!  Attendance topped 1,600, and it introduced several other innovations… it was the First Year for “The Frame”, the first year we had Badges, and this other little idea… I had some extra Avery Return Address Labels and said, “What if I print up some fun stickers to hand out? People might like that!” And that’s how that started. Also to note, the starting times for TBOX5 and TBOX6 had crept to earlier in the day… 3PM, 2PM… and TBOX7 started at Noon — which at the time seemed crazy early… if we only knew…  TBOX7 also marked the first TBOX for some of the most long-time Loyal Royals, like Biggins, Fuji, Marina, Jodi Z, Joanna, and future #1′s Tracey and Harold.  But TBOX7 was most important, because for the first time, after THIS TBOX, there was NO DOUBT that TBOX would go on every year, indefinitely, FOREVER, and that I, Christopher Festa, would do whatever it took to make it the greatest event I possibly could. Would I succeed? Find Out Here!

Happy Times at TBOX7 in 2002