Gizmo's Event Center
Gizmo's Event Center has always been a Dream for Dale "Gizmo" McCracken of Wheaton, MO.
Gizmo was born and raised in Wheaton and has always tried to give back to the community as much as possible. They have traveled all over the United States to so many neat towns and have always wanted to help make Wheaton a place that people enjoyed coming to visit.
Gizmo and his wife Janice have done alot over the last few years with the Historical Society to rebuild some of the things that put Wheaton on the map to begin with. The Depot has been a project that many people have put a lot of time and effort into and we hope that when you are in town for one of our Events that you choose to stop by and take a look into a little piece of history.
Gizmo and Janice started to talk about an Event Center years before they ever found the land that they have now. The Event Center will make a home to all types of Events from Motorsports, Rodeos, Fairs, Concerts, Truck & Tractor Pulls and much, much more. It is designed to bring good family Entertainment to the Area and allow people from Wheaton as well as the surrounding towns and countys a place to have any Event that they desire.
Gizmo's Event Center is a fairgrounds-style center that will hold more than twice the official population of the town.
“It’s about a half-million dollar project,” McCracken said. “It’s going to be a community thing, only it’s being built privately.”
Gizmo's Event Center will be spread out over 20 acres at the edge of Wheaton.
It will feature a large grandstand capable of holding about 1,674 people. Underneath the grandstand will be a community center with restrooms, concession stands and enough room for a 60-by-100-foot community room.
Nearby the grandstand will be a 124-by-144-foot covered arena, which could be used to house livestock. This is combined with two pole barns already on the property. It will be completed in time to hold the Barry County Fair, scheduled for June 25-27, McCracken said.
The center will be a step up from last year’s fair, said Ernest Ray, president of the Barry County Fair Board.
“We don’t have a permanent facility, so this helps us out a bunch,” Ray said. “We think this will make the Barry County Fair take off.”
It’s not just fair workers excited about the center.
“If he has the big events that he’s talking about, then I see people coming to town, buying gas for their RVs and shopping in the grocery store,” said Marianne Whitt, Wheaton city clerk. “I see this as a positive thing, I think it’s great, and I applaud what he’s trying to do.”
Whitt also said Wheaton does not have a community center, despite the countless calls she receives from people seeking a location to hold a wedding reception, baby shower or other events.
The community room under the grandstand could be rented for those types of events.
Clowning around
McCracken has had almost a lifetime of experience with rodeo. He got his start when he was 15.
“All the kids around here in high school participated in junior rodeos,” McCracken said. “I wasn’t very good at riding or roping, but when I’d go to the practice pen, I’d chase young bulls to make them buck better. A stock contractor saw me, said I was good and offered me a job.”
Before joining with the PRCA in 1992, he performed as a comedian in the Branson Opryhouse. He also owned a couple of old-time photo shops and an ice-cream parlor.
Over the past few years, he has appeared at about 45 to 50 rodeos per year across the country. He was chosen as this year’s third-best barrelman by the PRCA, and has been nominated for Comedy Act of the Year three times.
He and his wife, Janice, own the Stop N Shop convenience store in Wheaton.
Why Wheaton?
The Gizmo Event Center will cost more than $300,000 by the time everything is completed, McCracken said. He jokes that it is his clown retirement project, but he and his wife have already poured about $55,000 into construction costs this year.
“We have been successful,” McCracken said. “Comedy has been good to us. We’ve made money, but more importantly, we’ve made friends and contacts all over the country.”
McCracken should recover some of the costs from sponsorships and rental of the site, he said. The contacts he has made in his career are helping him land bookings for the center.
Which begs the question: Why Wheaton? Why build an arena that can hold more than twice the city’s population?
“Everyone thinks I’m nuts for spending that much in a little town, but I tell you what,” he said. “I’ve been in so many small towns that didn’t have anything but the rodeo. Some of the neatest rodeos are in nothin’ towns. You pull in there, and you wonder, ‘How did this town get an event like this?’”
The center is based off of one he came across on tour. Some of the places he visited, from Pretty Prairie, Kan., to Dayton, Ohio, convinced him that a large event center could work in a small town such as Wheaton.
McCracken said the location will draw fans from all over Southwest Missouri, including nearby areas of Neosho, Monett, Cassville and Rogers, Ark.
Ray thinks the center will be a success.
“This is going to be a help to the whole community,” Ray said. “With some of the bigger events he’s planning, a lot of people will be going to that place. They’ll have to have a place to stay, so the entire area could benefit.”
Whitt said she has heard of developers wanting to build motels in Wheaton.
“If that comes true, then it would create some jobs,” Whitt said. “When you can get some life in a small town, it means a lot.”
Despite the energy and money the McCrackens are investing in the center, Gizmo has no notion to put up his makeup. He plans to keep touring while he builds the center, in addition to spending more time with his family, including a new granddaughter.
“This is something that we’ve always wanted to do,” McCracken said. “We’ve seen so many things in little towns that were working, so we want to try it at home.”
Funny Business Highlights
Dale “Gizmo” McCracken has had a 16-year career as a clown in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. Some of his career highlights include:
Featured Act at the 2005 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo
Nominated PRCA “Comedy Act of the Year” 2002 and 2005
Nominated "Coors Man in the Can": 2007, 2008
Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo 2006
PRCA Texas Circuit Finals: 2008
PRCA Badlands Circuit Finals: 1997, 2003, & 2007
PRCA Prairie Circuit Finals: 1998, 2005
PRCA Southeast Circuit Finals: 2004
PRCA Great Lakes Circuit Finals: 1994, 1996, 2000 & 2001
Cheyenne Frontier Days PRCA Rodeo: 2001 & 2002
Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo 2009
