Probably the weirdest tradition we’ve had here on MBIP is the annual counting of the gumball machines at Northwoods Mall. I moved back to Peoria in 2012 and while looking around town for things to do blog posts on, I happened to notice the abnormal abundance of gumball machines at the Northwoods Mall.
On January 9, 2013, I started a yearly tradition of going out and counting the gumball machines at Northwoods Mall. In 2017, MBIP commenter and friend, Chad Wallace joined me as the official count-keeper for this ridiculous tradition!
Due to Covid, we missed two years, 2021 and 2022, but it’s now 2023 and time to let this sticky and wicky tradition continue!
There’s Chad Wallace, ready to start couting gumball machines. I love the Mr. Mom t-sheirt!
Okay, he’s armed with the counting notebook, marker and bag of quarters. Time to start out on this ridiculous day! I love it!
And we’re on the road to…
The Northwoods Mall!
Here we are and Chad leads the way to the land of the plenty of gumballs.
——
Lower Level
Chad’s disappointed that the lingerie is no longer on display at this store. Looks like Covid killed that and replaced it with a sweatpants display. So sad!
Okay, here we go!
Even though we’ve had a two year hiatus, Chad jumps right back into the gumball game with an overload of zeal and confidence!
The machines are still the Northern Beaver variety, nice to see they survived the Covid crisis!
And now for this time-honored gumball joke: Bananarama…I wondered what happened to them!
Wow, Chad plopped fifty cents into the Mike and Ike machine and this is all that came out!
The question here is: “Is this Mike or Ike?” Well, no time to ponder this, the clock is ticking and we must keep moving along on this gumball journey!
We move further into the mall to the next island of gumball machines.
This one is in a slightly different location, but it doesn’t phase Chad at all. He’s on fire and attacking these machines with vigor and gusto. Goodness, gracious, great balls of gum!
“Emoti Balls?” Emoti’s are just headless creatures…how in the world do they have testicles?
Further proof that old rock bands don’t die, they turn into recliners at the mall. I wonder if they’re looking back at this in anger?
Oh well, no time to ponder this, we must keep moving on!
Here’s the last gumball island on the lower level.
Once again we get ripped off, this time at the Bananrama machine. Only two came out and we should at least get three!
Oh well, onwards and upwards to more gumball buffoonery!
——
Upper Level
Okay, we’re up on the second floor and there’s the giant island of gum up here!
Chad attacks the machines with great gumball gusto! Great to see our old gumball chum, Cray Baby Guts again!
I still want to meet the person who said, “Let’s name our gumballs after a crybaby’s inner organs!”
There’s Chad attacking the last island up here on the upper level of the mall!
There’s talk of discontinuing the Blow Pop Gumballs because of the incestuous nature of the name.
——
The 2023 Gumball Machine Count!
Time for the yearly tally of gumball machines by math wizard, Chad Wallace.
The grand total is: 104 gumball machines in the Northwoods Mall! it’s the same number as we had in 2020. A gumball miracle!
We walked around the mall to give our bag of gumballs to a lucky merchant and found this store that we’ve never seen before: Viceroy Artworkz.
We went in and met the owner and resident artist of this colorful shop, Roy Johnson.
Chad presented Roy with the bag of gumball goodies and the two of them posed in front of one of Roy’s many works of art in the gallery.
The artwork in here by Roy is amazing! At first I thought it was a gallery featuring several artists works because of the varying styles, but all of these were created by Roy! It’s fantastic art and you should stop by and support this wonderful local Peoria artist!
You can read more about Roy and follow him on facecrack by clicking here.
Great to meet Roy and mucho thanks to Chad Wallace for joining up with me for this yearly gummy adventure! We’ll do it again in 2024!
——
2200 W. War Memorial Drive
Peoria
309-319-8419
——
Related Posts: Counting Gumballs Trip #: Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two and One.