Fridays truly are fun days at one Rockwood School District bus stop.
Ben Heisel of Eureka has donned costumes and accompanied his sons, Nate and Ty Heisel, to their neighborhood bus stop for the last two years.
Heisel, 47, has dressed up as superheroes, cartoon characters and even a cheerleader, brightening the morning routine for a host of LaSalle Springs Middle School students.
“There’s a wide range of reactions (at the bus stop),” Heisel said. “With our boys, there’s a lot of eye rolls, you know, like ‘Oh, Dad, c’mon.’ Sometimes they can’t stop laughing. It’s something fun to do that makes people smile.”
Nate is 14 and Ty is 12.
Heisel dressed as a cheerleader.
Heisel said he started wearing costumes to the bus stop in February 2021. His wife, Lisa, often takes pictures and records videos of her husband that she posts on social media.
“It’s partly to embarrass the kids, partly to amuse them, partly to amuse the adults,” Heisel said. “It’s something fun to do, to put something positive out there on social media. I don’t really care too much about embarrassing myself.
“In a sense, it’s what I want to demonstrate to our kids – it’s OK to be laughed at and not take life too seriously. The older you get, the more you realize that.”
Heisel also has a daughter, Mya Stegen, a junior at Webster University.
Reactions
Heisel said Nate was in sixth grade at LaSalle Springs Middle and Ty was in fifth grade at Blevins Elementary when he started wearing costumes to their separate bus stops.
“(At first), the older one, he did not want me to go to his bus stop,” Heisel said. “He was in middle school, sixth grade, kind of bottom of the food chain, and I think he was a little too embarrassed, so I backed off in respect of that.”
Now that both boys are at LaSalle Springs – Nate is now an eighth grader, and Ty is in seventh grade – their dad makes his weekly costumed visit at the single bus stop.
Heisel said he has attracted plenty of attention from passersby.
“Some people would just be on their way to work, not totally awake,” he said. “When I first started doing it, several cars just dead stopped in the street. A couple of them would back up. People would get out of their cars and take pictures from three houses away. They had to get evidence for when they were describing it to their spouse later on.”
Elizabeth Lack, whose daughter, Gretchen Lack, is a seventh-grader at LaSalle Springs, said she finds Heisel’s outlandish Friday attire to be a “riot.”
“I appreciate that they just want to make the bus stop as fun as they can,” she said. “His kids always seemed to be good sports about it. When his wife, Lisa, takes the pictures, they’re always smiling and I don’t see anyone trying to duck out of the picture or anything.”
Lack said she admires Heisel’s creativity and how he acts in the different costumes.
“This past week, he had an inflatable one – I think it was Porky Pig,” Lack said on Nov. 3. “Depending on the theme of the costume, he often kind of portrays what that costume is. If he’s a cheerleader, then he’ll do some cheers and jumps. (Porky Pig) was a little bit harder because it’s so big, but he’s laughing and joking. He’ll chase the bus as it leaves.”
Rich Anders also enjoys seeing Heisel on Fridays. Anders has two children, Garrett Anders, who attends LaSalle Springs and Harper, who attends Blevins Elementary School.
“The kids love it, and we love it too,” he said. “It brings the neighborhood together, and it’s a really fun thing that he does. We all get together and laugh, and it’s a pretty cool thing.”
Ben Heisel, dressed as a dinosaur, walks with neighborhood kids to the bus stop.
Anders said his favorite costume was a giant blow-up dinosaur.
“When he wears it, the head spins around because it’s heavier than him,” Anders said. “The head bounces around, it’s the funniest.”
Alter ego(s)
Heisel said he never repeats a costume and has rarely not been at the bus stop on a Friday.
“I would say my attendance rate is 90 percent or better,” he said.
Heisel orders costumes online, asks friends and family to loan him outfits or buys clothes at thrift stores..
“I have quite a collection growing,” he said. “It started with one Rubbermaid tub, and now I’m into the third tub of random costumes. I’ve loaned some of them out, because a neighbor was going to a ’70s disco party and he mentioned, ‘Hey you have anything that might work?’ and I was like, ‘I sure do, come on over.’ I’ve become my own little Johnnie Brock’s.”
Heisel said one of his favorite costumes was Joe Exotic, the subject of the Netflix documentary “Tiger King.”
Heisel said one of his favorite costumes was Joe Exotic, the subject of the Netflix documentary “Tiger King.”
“(‘Tiger King’) was a big deal for a while during the pandemic,” Heisel said. “(The costume) was like a Joe Exotic kit from Amazon. It had a mullet wig and a mustache. I think I had cut-off jeans.”
“I’ve done pretty much every superhero costume you can think of, a couple of inflatables, the Easter Bunny. The Easter Bunny one was one of my favorites because it was supposed to be in an adult size, but it actually only fit (ages) 10-12. I still managed to squeeze in it which I thought was actually funnier because it hit just below my knees and elbows.”
Heisel began this school year by dressing in a Eureka High School cheerleading uniform. He said the 1994 outfit was loaned to him from one of his wife’s friends, who cheered in high school.
“It didn’t quite zip all the way in the back, but I did get into it,” he said.
Lack said the neighborhood never knows what Heisel will show up in next, but whatever it is, it’s a highlight of the day.
“As a parent, I appreciate his willingness to interact with the kids and to put himself out there so that they start their day with a smile,” she said.
Behind the mask
When he’s not moonlighting as the Easter Bunny or Porky Pig, Heisel said he is “just a boring IT nerd.”
His family has lived in Eureka for seven years. He and his wife graduated from Eureka High in 1994, then moved around the St. Louis area for a few years before settling in Eureka.
“When he’s not dressing up, he’s a very nice person,” Anders said. “You can just tell that he’s extremely nice and caring. When he’s dressed up, he’s a class clown, just to make it fun for the kids.”
Lack said Heisel is a fun person with a good heart.
“The fact that he wants to do this for the kids so that they start off their weekend with a smile, I appreciate that as a parent,” she said.
Heisel said the costumes are a way to teach his children to find ways to have fun.
“Life is short,” he said. “Have fun.”