Diehard Chicago Bears fan shows off his tailgating prized possessions
CHICAGO - We've all got our favorite sports team and some collectibles that show just how much we love them.
While most of us just keep these prized possession at home, some of us don't.
In a FOX 32 Special Report, Scott Schneider introduces us to a diehard Chicago Bears fan who takes his show on the road.
"All right, this is my collection at the tailgate van here," said Ken Vedder while showing his collection to us.
When Vedder loads up his van to tailgate at a Bears game, he's packing up more than just beer and brats.
"They all look for the giant bear. Once they find us, it’s a party … for several hours … until they kick us out," Vedder said. "We have a stereo system that we are going to be upgrading. But we do karaoke."
"We have a motorcycle blender that we mix margaritas with … its dangerous (puts on helmet) it’s very dangerous. So we have to put on a helmet … and the gloves," he added.
"Then we’ve got the car. Its uh – our cooler car we call it … it’s got police sirens. It’s got horns on it … it lights up blue and orange at night."
"This is a photo booth. This whole booth – people can basically walk up and we have a ramp and we have orange cones … you come up here … We dress them up (puts on hot dog hat) – whether it’s a hot dog hat or – you get to dress them up like you do in Wisconsin," he said.
That’s just some of the fun he likes to share with other Bear fans on game day.
"We have so many bears. We give them away during the game. This isn’t even a third of what we have. We bring another 50-60 bears to pass out to kids," Vedder said.
"I pass out may be 400 to 500 beads a game and we all pass them out … everybody with me, I call them my bead disciples," he added.
I guess that’s why he says some fans call him either the "Bead Man" or "Papa Bear" — not to be confused with the original, of course.
Vedder’s van even puts on a show when he's driving to and from the games — inside and out.
"This is the inside of the van. I’ve crammed just about everything I can in here. I’ve got the orange lights. The blue lights … I’ve got some old posters of the Bears. 1986. Monsters of the Midway," Vedder said.
The outside of the van is even wrapped with Bears players.
"We got Walter, Singletary, Hampton. We got them all on here," Vedder said.
In case you were wondering, Vedder’s van was a plain old white cargo van before he "tricked it out" with all things Bears.
He's had it for seven years now.