A promising shopping day full of sales and deals turned violent at a Wausau, Wisconsin Bass Pro Shop when alcohol-fueled shoppers turned to rioting.
It started as hundreds of shoppers started drinking beer and taking shots of liquor at 6 am while they waited for the store’s doors to open. The line soon turned into a drinking contest between the paper mill workers, the off-duty policemen, the firemen, and Wausau Insurance employees waiting to Christmas shop when things began to get out of hand.
Bass Pro Shop is known for selling outdoor items for fisherman and hunting, and Northern Wisconsiners love to hunt and fish. Beer goes hand and hand with that activity. The alcohol was meant to make the shopping experience more fun for the non-shopping inclined crowd.
As the day went on, more popular items began to run low on stock. When the Bass Pro Shop Expedition First Aid Kit went out of stock, emotions boiled over in the now drunk store.
A shoving match between a union paper mill worker and off-duty cop over the Tackle Box Supreme occurred which then led to punches. Friends of each party then stepped in, and the harmless scuffle escalated to a small brawl. As the brawl began negatively affecting more people, it inevitably grew. Eventually, all the stores shoppers were dragged into the scuffle.
Shoppers were using bug repellent as pepper spray, a fishing trolling motor was swung around defending a man’s space, folding chairs were used as shields and weapons like in a pro-wrestling match, and a turkey deep fryer set off like a napalm bomb, scolding dozens with third-degree burns.
With much of the small town at the store shopping for camouflage gear, there were no police to call and the chaos ensued.
At the end of the day when people became sober, 27 people were taken to the hospital for various injuries, and two suburban trucks were destroyed in the parking lot. Over $400,00 worth of damage was calculated.
Small Town Makes Big News
Tom Pavelski, a Wausau resident shopping for snowshoes, told the Wausau Herald, “I haven’t seen fights like this since pee-wee hockey. I did play hockey with some of these guys.”
The town’s police chief was shopping when the fighting erupted. He was forced to hold a conference apologizing for his actions in the store when his drunken fishing pole sword fighting left one man blind in his left eye and several others with lashes across their face.
Store clerk Eric Pullman told the Herald, “Considering all the guns and weapons we sell, we were extremely lucky no one shot anyone.
“It was like a big bar fight in the middle of a store. Cleaning everything up is going to suck. Anything will blood on it will need to be thrown out. A lot of other merchandise was destroyed. I’m happy I’m not the one who has to call corporate.”
The wives of the men involved issued a joint statement to the community apologizing for their husband’s actions and giving Wausau a bad name. “Our middle age men shouldn’t be acting like teenage frat boys. We will be taking them to Church every day for a month to pay off their sins.
“This is what happens when the Packers lose the Chicago Bears on Thanksgiving Day.”