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Video Party Express brings fun on wheels
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Some adults and children played video games on the two TVs outside the Video Party Express trailer, above, at Matt Sevachko’s birthday party Saturday in Pulaski, Pa. More than a dozen children played video games while lounging on leather couches inside the trailer.
LIBERTY
Kelly Sevachko, 43, of Pulaski, Pa., always tries to throw themed birthday parties for her son, Matthew. This year, she hosted a “Minecraft”-themed party for his 10th birthday Saturday. “Minecraft” is a video game that lets users build in a virtual world.
Sevachko said party guests did not expect a 7,000-pound trailer stuffed with five flatscreen TVs, six gaming systems and laser lights to be the main entertainment of the day. Kids at Sevachko’s party called the trailer “heaven on wheels.” Cherie Howard, owner of the trailer, calls it Video Party Express, a business she started in June with a few family members and friends in Liberty.
“It’s essentially a video- game trailer and theater,” Howard said. “We have movies, concert DVDs and a library of about 60 video games or so.”
Howard said she got the idea for the business from a friend in North Carolina who had started a video- game trailer. Howard, 60, of Liberty, said she researched video-game trailers for two months this winter. She said the trailer was finished by the end of May.
“As early as July, we were invited to Ashtabula County for the grand opening of the first McDonald’s in Jefferson, Ohio,” Howard said.
Howard said it cost about $125,000 to start her business, which includes the cost of the trailer, a pickup truck to pull it and the games inside it. She said additional costs of running the business include fuel to run the onboard generator, liability insurance, a monthly charge for PayPal and equipment maintenance.
Howard doesn’t come from an entrepreneurial background — she retired from being a lawyer in July 2013 — but she said the research skills she learned as a lawyer helped her make Video Party Express feasible.
Brad Michaelson, owner of Steel City Gamerz in Pittsburgh, said he let Howard visit his business to help her with research this winter. He said he thinks the video-game trailer industry is worth investing in.
“These trailers are real popular out west already, and every party I’ve been to so far, kids love it,” Michaelson said.
Howard said she usually books 25 parties a month. She said Preston, her 11-year-old son, and John Sailor, a family friend, help her manage most of the parties.
“Sometimes when there are more than 20 kids at a party, it gets crazy,” Sailor said. He said he and Preston help Howard by handing out game controllers to kids on the trailer and fixing technology problems.
Howard said one of her favorite parts about the business is seeing both parents and kids entertained.
“When you think of a kid’s party, you usually think of the kids running all over the place, driving parents nuts,” she said. “But here, kids are entertained, and we’ve got things under control. So it’s a win-win for everybody.”
Sevachko said everybody seemed impressed with the video-game trailer at her son’s party Saturday.
“All the kids loved it,” she said. “Even parents were playing. I don’t think any kids ate party food until the truck left.”