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Boxes of Poplar Creek concert memorabilia up for sale

A former employee of the long-gone Poplar Creek Music Theater in Hoffman Estates recently unpacked a treasure trove of concert memorabilia - and he's selling all of it.

Bill Kroupa, an Elgin native who worked security at the venue for its entire existence, unboxed hundreds of unworn concert T-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, posters, photos and other merchandise from acts that performed at Poplar Creek, which was open from 1980 to 1994.

As part of his downsizing, Kroupa is getting rid of all of it and selling the pieces at bargain prices - anywhere from $15 to $30 per item.

Kroupa realizes much of it is worth far more, but with hundreds of items, he's not willing to take photos of each thing and write detailed descriptions to sell online.

“If people want to buy it and resell it, that's their choice. What am I gonna do with this stuff? Am I going to get another storage space at $72 a month? I decided it's time to get rid of it,” he said. “It's given a lot of good memories to people.”

Kroupa's stockpile includes Jimmy Buffett, Chicago and Grateful Dead shirts, as well as rare items, such as a 1989 Stevie Ray Vaughn concert T-shirt and Whitney Houston and John Denver tour sweatshirts.

Many of the items scream 1980s, with bright colors and Flashdance-like styles, and are from bands like The Go-Go's, Air Supply and the Eurythmics.

Kroupa already sold about 100 of the items to friends and former Poplar Creek employees, but now he's opening the sale of the remaining 300 pieces to the public. All of the hats, T-shirts and sweatshirts will be sold first-come, first-served on the Facebook page, https://facebook.com/Poplar-Creek-Concert-Shirts-560179404139119/. People can post inquiries there.

Kroupa warns buyers that a size L (large) back then is a lot smaller than today's size L. Also, one vintage WXRT shirt he sold didn't hold up in the laundry - the entire printed portion came off. So he recommends washing shirts by hand.

  Singers galore on this Poplar Creek poster in Bill Kroupa's stash! Bob Chwedyk/bchwedyk@dailyherald.com

This week, Kroupa found one additional box of concert posters, 8-by-10 black-and-white photos of Poplar Creek and publicity packets from acts that performed there, including Mikhail Baryshnikov and a double-bill starring Frank Sinatra and Don Rickles. Kroupa's still in the process of taking inventory and pricing these items.

Kroupa expects to raise about $6,000 from the sale, which he jokes will reimburse him for what he spent on storage spaces for the past three decades.

“I'll put the money in my personal emergency fund,” he said, laughing.

Back in the 1980s, it was common for tours to leave merchandise and other “swag” for the venue staff as a thank you. Kroupa collected what they gave him, purchased a few items on his own and boxed everything up, thinking he'd one day use it to decorate a music room or a man cave. But now, at age 57 and living in a small condo on Lake Shore Drive, he said that dream room is probably never going to happen.

A 2014 Daily Herald story about the Poplar Creek employee reunion prompted him to dig everything out of storage.

“Every time I moved, I didn't have time to go through the boxes. One box turned into another, and I said, 'Oh, I'll deal with that one day.' I forgot how much stuff I had,” he said. “It does bring things kind of full circle. While I was going through it all, I thought, 'Wow, that was a big piece of life.'”

  Yes, you can get Poplar Creek sweatshirts from Bill Kroupa, too. Bob Chwedyk/bchwedyk@dailyherald.com

Kroupa was one of Poplar Creek's first employees. He worked as a security guard at the construction site when the outdoor concert venue was built in 1979. He stayed on to help with traffic and security until the venue closed in 1994. Today, Kroupa, a retired AT&T construction and installation manager, works as the music hall manager at House of Blues in Chicago and does security at the Hollywood Amphitheater in Tinley Park.

Longtime Poplar Creek theater manager Debi Gordon, of Highland Park, is helping Kroupa manage this massive sale. She said it was fun and therapeutic to go through all the stuff.

“There's a story or memory behind every single item he has, triggering a bunch of emotions and memories, ranging from 'That was amazing' to 'Oh man, I hope my kids never hear that story,'” she said. “One of my favorite parts of all this is reading the stories from the people who have been buying the shirts. It's wonderful to be reminded that people loved their experience at Poplar as much as we did.”

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