One of the things I really like about doing my own blog is that you can do really stupid things on it. And then you can do that really stupid thing over and over and in today’s case over to the 10th degree!
This post marks our 10th year of counting the many gumboil machines at the Northwoods Mall! I started way back in January or 2013, then MBIP friend, reader and commenter, Chad Wallace joined me in 2017 as the official count-keeper for this stupid and ridiculous tradition! We had to skip 2021 and 2022 due to the pandemic problems, the machines were all covered up for two years, but we came back with a vengeance last year!
And so, for the tenth year, here we go, just like Weird Al, daring ourselves to be stupid!
There’s the tools of the gumball counting trade: The Official MBIP Ball Bag, A Bag of Quarters and last years notebook for keeping score.
All of a sudden Chad Wallace magically shows up on the scene all the way from Springfield, Illinios and it’s that magical time of the year once again!
You can feel the electricity in the air…well, not really, but it sounds good!
Check out Chad’s driving cap, nice!
We’re here at the mall and as always, Chad leads the way inside this gumball emporium!
We’re inside…hey, where’s Chad?
Uh, oh, he’s over here checking out the female mannequins again! Come on Chad, there’s work to be done!
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Lower Level
Here we are at the first bank of gumball machines and the first one Chad tried out was the Mike and Ike’s. For fifty cents it spit out one lousy piece of candy! Now I’m wondering if that’s Mike or Ike…oh well, let’s keep moving along here.
Chad next hit the Nerds machine and got a better amount of candy, but these don’t look like nerds they look like defective pills with a case of the hives.
There’s Chad totaling up the first gumball bank. I’d like to say it’s starting to get exciting…but it’s really not. Okay, let’s keep moving along here!
There used to be a gumball bank here, but it’s gone, so Chad stopped and made friends with Barney!
The next banks is at the other end of the mall and Chad got a nice handful down here. I just realized that the words, “A Nice Handful” would be a great name for a massage parlor, but let’s try and stay on track here!
It’s a little hard to see from the photo, but these gumball machines are Northern Beaver machines and I found their website right here. Hmm…I may have to look into purchasing an MBIP gumball machine in the future…stay tuned!
And there’s my two favorite gumball machines, “Cry Baby Tears” and “Cry Baby Guts.” Rumor has it that a “Cry Baby Fecal Matter” is in the works, so stay tuned for that next year!
Here’s the third and final gumball bank on the lower level. And check this one out, it gives me the chance to do this joke that I think I’ve done every year that we’ve been doing this: “Bananrama? I wondered what happened to them!”
Okay, Chad totaled up the results for the lower level and now it’s onwards and upwards!
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Top Level
Okay, here we are at the first gumball bank on the top level. Hey look…Bananarama, I wondered…oh wait, we did that joke already…never mind.
Let’s just keep moving along here!
Here’s Chad attacking the next gumball bank.
Holy screaming shitballs, there yet another Bananrama gumball machine! This stupid thing is starting to remind me of that fucking bird from the Bronx Zoo from years ago! Aaaahhh!
Okay, we’re at the third and final gumball bank on the top level.
Blow Pop? Oh shit, I blew Pop last night, can someone else do it? I’m busy counting gumballs over here.
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The Official MBIP 2024 Gumball Count!
Chad tallied up the numbers and it’s 104 gumball machines, the exact same count as last year! That’s never happened before and quite frankly, I don’t really care!
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The 2024 Annual Giving Away Of The Gumballs!
We decided to award this years gumball grab to the folks who manage the Northwoods Mall and help make this happen every year!
I rang the bell and Adam came out to accept this prestigious and kind of worthless award from Chad!
Thanks to Adam and everyone who manage this wonderful gumball-filled mall!
And thanks to Chad Wallace for joining me and helping out with the count once again! It was a fun and wonderful time as always!
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2200 W. War Memorial Drive
Peoria
309-319-8419
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Related Posts: Counting Gumballs Trip #: Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two and One.