Forty years of Freaker's Ball in South Lake Tahoe

This year is a big milestone in the history of the Freaker's Ball....40 years of fun and entertainment at a variety of South Shore locations since its inception. On Saturday, October 26, 2018 the Freaker's Ball will be held at MontBleu Resort & Spa starting at 9:00 p.m. The crowds continue to grow and the costumes continue to entertain.

The following is a reprint of our story from 2014:

The Beginning in 1978

This story begins back in 1978 when Tim Haloren, Jim Rodgers and Brian Williams all worked at the Waystation, which is now home to Deb Howard & Co. Realty and Pizza Hut. Tim left in January of that year to open Nephele's (which he still owns today), Jim left at the end of summer to work at Harrah's Tahoe (he is now the chairman of KOA America) and Brian left about the same time to explore his entrepreneurial side (he now owns the Media West Group).

One day after he left the Waystation, Williams was talking to Mr. Lee who owned the Tahoe Chinese Palace next to Raley's at Stateline. Lee closed up at 9 p.m. every night and Brian talked Lee into letting him operate an afterhours nightclub. The Tahoe Palace rocked every night until 1:30 a.m. according to Williams.

The Early Years

People in South Lake Tahoe were starting to hear about the fun and games going on in San Francisco with their Halloween bashes that took on a wild nature. In 1972 Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show released a song titled "Freaker's Ball." It was still popular in 1978 and it was Williams' brainchild to have a San Francisco style Halloween party in Lake Tahoe called the Freaker's Ball. On October 31, 1978, Williams and his friends staged the first of many Freaker's Balls at the Tahoe Palace.

Mr. Lee ended up closing the restaurant but Williams wanted to continue running the Freaker's Balls in South Lake Tahoe. He cut a deal with the Vagabond Motel (Now Super 8 and Mo's) and held the popular Halloween event there "for four or five years." Pat Brennan, the founder of High Sierra Patrol, was Brian's security guy for the night and Mal & the Movers was his favorite go to band for the event. Many South Lake Tahoe residents may know two of the band members, Hal Cole (the Mayor at the time of this story) and Don Bosson (a local Realtor).

With more than 400 partiers attending the Freaker's Ball, Williams found they had outgrown venues on the California side and looked for a spot in Nevada. He ran a contest on KRLT for people to guess where the next Freaker's Ball would be. It ended up at Edgewood Tahoe for two years. "We drank Bobby King's bar "bitterly" dry," said Williams. "By that, I mean, that by 2:00 a.m. all they had left to sell was Chartreuse and mixers. Those two years were a turning point for the event."

Event Moves to Round Hill

The old Round Hill Mall was home to several nightclubs including After Dark, La Fantasia and Monte Vista, to name a few. Dennis Nelson opened Turtles in the mall and became friends (and a fellow Rotarian) with Williams. Even though Skip Sayre and Paul Reder wanted Brian to bring the Freaker's Ball to the High Sierra Casino, it went to Nelson's Turtles.

Brian and his wife Gale had a family and felt it was time to pass the reins of Freaker's Ball to Nelson. Brian stayed and helped promote the event, and then Nelson opened Turtles and Zachary's at Embassy Suites, so Freaker's Ball followed. Brian helped with the costume contests and had celebrity judges, including one-time South Lake Tahoe Mayor Terry Trupp (if you don't know about Terry, look him up).

The Move to Caesars

Paul Reder still wanted Freaker's Ball, and after he became V.P. of Entertainment for Caesars Tahoe he approached Brian again about bringing the party there. Williams helped negotiate the deal between Nelson (who was quite ill by then) and Caesars and the rest you could say, is history.

Williams shared his memories of the origin of Freaker's Ball, reminiscing on his many years with the event.

"Back in the day it was a fun event to produce," Williams said. "People were amazed that I had it at Edgewood for a couple of years. That was our Boogie Period. The second year turned into a big late night / early morning Jam Session with a whole bunch of musicians coming by to party after their own gigs. And I remember one year at the Vagabond, Joe Theiman came dressed as a hood and had a real Uzi gun. Patrick threw him out. That was a night to remember."

Williams said that they always had the Freaker's Ball on Halloween, no matter what day of the week it fell on. "I always ran Freakers on Oct. 31st, no matter what day of the week it fell on. It seemed to work okay. Gotta have a Halloween Fright on Halloween Night, right!?"

After the event became popular, the costume contest became a big draw and trips to Hawaii and cash prizes were offered. "We had Team Costumes," said Williams. "Our first one I remember was the 5 Ninja Warriors from Modesto. And very, very, very creative energies into the costumes. One that will always stick in my mind was one year at Turtles. Local paraplegic Ted Nagel came as a body in a coffin. Body, moving coffin and all!"

Locals may know Brian Williams from his years running the website and press room for American Century Golf Championship, creating many local websites and as a member, and Past-President of Tahoe Douglas Rotary.