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Party with a purpose

The Fun Doctors will host the Marquette University Alumni Association tailgating party on Oct. 17. Above: a scene from a previous Fun Doctors party. Below: the official Fun Doctors logo.

By Nicole Sweeney Etter

They call themselves “the Fun Doctors,” though there’s not an M.D. in the bunch. This group of Marquette alumni, parents and other friends bought houses near Lambeau Field just to host their tailgating bashes — and their game-day parties raise more than $10,000 for charity every year.

It started when Bob Weyers, Bus Ad ’87, Grad ’88, was strolling near the Packers stadium five or six years ago. Weyers co-owns Commercial Horizons, a real estate company based in Appleton and Green Bay, Wis. So when Bob noticed a row of houses with backyards abutting the Packers parking lot and spotted a “for rent” sign in front of a three-bedroom ranch, the die-hard Packers fan saw opportunity. “You can’t get any closer to Lambeau Field than this row of houses,” he says. “I thought, ‘What if I just rented the house? Then I could just tailgate anytime I want.’”

Bob recruited his business partners, brother Jeff Weyers, Bus Ad ’85, and Paul Klister, a Marquette parent and alumnus of the College of Business Administration. Then other coworkers joined in. They eventually bought the house and transformed the unattached garage into party central: doubling its size and adding heat, a bathroom, a big-screen television, freezers, fridges and beer tapper machines. Their plan was simple: “We could rent the house out to individuals, but then 10 days a year we’re going to take over the backyard,” Bob explains.

It was such a hit that their group formed a company called Fun Doctors LLC (a play off Bob’s office nickname, Dr. Fun.) “It’s kind of corny,” Bob says. “Everybody thinks we’re a bunch of doctors when we’re really just real estate developers.”

The Fun Doctors eventually bought three more houses on that street, tore down the garages and rebuilt them with parties in mind. They have since resold two of the houses to the Green Bay Packers for future parking and development, but they retain ownership of their original house and the house next door.

Fun Doctors tailgating parties are quite the scene: They invite family, friends and business acquaintances, and sometimes more than 1,000 people show up. The Fun Doctors and Commercial Horizons provide the food, beer and live band. “We throw the party, and we rely on the generosity of our guests to support our charity,” Jeff says. They post a big thermometer to show their progress toward their annual fundraising goal of $10,000; last season they raised nearly $15,000.

The party donations have supported their local Boys & Girls Club, a home for troubled boys, a homeless shelter, a nonprofit organization that provides jobs to people with disabilities, and other causes.

A favorite Fun Doctors event is the annual Bear-B-Que, for which they use their hunting connections to acquire a bear for roasting before the Packers play the Chicago Bears. And for the last couple of years, the Fun Doctors have partnered with the Marquette Alumni Association to host the annual tailgating party for Green Bay-area alums.

But more than friends, family and fellow alums show up. One year it was rumored that actor Adam Sandler was in line for a bear sandwich, and the Travel Channel’s Feasty Boys Eat America show was one of several camera crews that have broadcast from their garage.

“You never know who’s going to show up,” Jeff says. “It’s a nice place to kind of congregate. Instead of wandering through the parking lot looking for other tailgating parties, they come to us.”