THE BRIGHT SIDE
Lake Geneva has earned the nickname ‘the Hamptons of the Midwest.”
Last month’s second annual Dragon Days marked a turning point in the relationship between the town, people, and legendary creator of Dungeon & Dragons. Dungeons & Dragons, the pioneering tabletop role-playing game, multimedia franchise, and cultural phenomenon, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Until recently, the town had never made much of its status as the birthplace of D&D. It seems they kept that part of their past very discreet and quiet. Most places would celebrate such a momentous event, monetize on it, and advertise to draw people in,. Not Lake Geneva.
That is until now. Dragon Days has brought to life the history and game of Dungeons & Dragons. Paul Stormberg was standing in the basement of 330 Center Street, the “birthplace of Dungeons & Dragons,” giving his 19th tour of the day when his phone rang. A bit of drama unfolding down at Library Park. The live archery demo, where a leather-clad bowyer was helping children fire arrows at rows of plastic orcs, was upsetting the nerves of tourists strolling the adjacent Geneva Lake Shore Path. Never mind the safety net and hay-bale backstop, a few were lodging complaints. This caused an appearance by the Lake Geneva Police Department who ended up shutting the archery booth down.
As the story goes, a young Gary Gygax used to sit by the lakeshore, gazing wistfully at the mansions while daydreaming about becoming a rich and famous fantasy novelist. In 1973, he was a 34-year-old shoe cobbler working out of his basement at 330 Center Street. An avid player of military strategy games, he’d lost his job as an insurance underwriter a few years earlier and decided to give it a go as a freelance game designer. Shoe repair was his side hustle as he tried to keep up with bills and feed his family.
To produce and sell his and Arneson’s new game, Gygax started a company called Tactical Studies Rules, or TSR. Right in his basement at 330 Center Street. In January 1974, TSR distributed the first thousand copies of a three-booklet rule set with the unruly label Dungeons & Dragons: Rules for Fantastic Medieval Wargames Campaigns Playable with Paper and Pencil and Miniature Figures. At its early ’80s peak, TSR employed more than 400 people in a town of just 5,600. And by the time the company left Lake Geneva at the end of the 1990s (bought out by Wizards of the Coast, and today owned by Hasbro), D&D has inspired a whole micro-culture of fantasy authors, artists, and game designers. the prospect of a town-wide street fair celebrating D&D’s legacy would have been unthinkable 20 or 30 years ago.
After a small-scale soft launch in 2023, this year’s Dragon Days saw an estimated 2,600 people gather in downtown Lake Geneva to celebrate 50 years of D&D. The lakeside park where Gygax once daydreamed was filled with vendors, fans, fantasy enthusiasts, and visitors all brought together because of Gygax’s dream. In March, the Lake Geneva planning commission and city council approved a site plan and voted unanimously to accept the donation of a memorial statue of Gygax. If fundraising is successful, the memorial will feature a bronze Gygax seated at a granite gaming table. His arm will be extended, and his cupped hand angled slightly downward, so that visitors can roll their dice from it. The City of Lake Geneva, the people and Dungeon & Dragons have all come a long way together. Let the celebrations continue.
