Heidi Brumbaugh grew up with what is now Eagle Eye Golf Club in her backyard.

She met her husband, Jim, while performing as a dancer on a Carnival Cruise Line ship where he was working as an audiovisual technician. Even though the cruise of marriage has taken them through such exotic ports of entertainment as Orlando and Las Vegas, they chose to return to Michigan to raise their daughter. More importantly (as far as this article is concerned), they put a combined 40 years of experience in the entertainment and event planning industries to work in the form of Event Depot, which they opened in November 2005.

Back on her home turf, Heidi realized that in order to make their new undertaking succeed “we needed to reconfigure the business,” which included inventing a job for Jim. They also discovered that in order to survive in the world of social event planning, “We needed to own a lot of our stuff. We found that we needed to do it to remain competitive.” They put Jim’s sound background (literally and figuratively speaking) to work researching, then      purchasing, the best equipment the Lansing market could   support. Though pleased with their progress, Heidi says, “We’re still tweaking; [The business] changes daily. We’re always evaluating the business, and how we do business.”

One big epiphany was their linen division. As they started getting more and more into the social market and getting a lot of requests for linens, they sub-rented, but weren’t making much profit. “We realized that we should really own our own linens,” Heidi says, “so we started purchasing. Then we realized that if we hire right and plan right, we could purchase the fabric and start making them. We developed our own linen manufacturing department.”

They recently moved the linen business into a 4,500-square-foot space in Bath. Here, they do all the sewing and are in the process of installing laundry equipment. “We do both wholesale and retail,” Heidi continues. “A lot of the companies that could be seen as competition, we basically partner with, and offer them something that they don’t carry themselves.”

The Brumbaughs have one full-time and one part-time employee, and have about nine people on call to assist with events. Their business is approximately one-third linens, audiovisual rentals, and turnkey event production. For the latter two-thirds, “It seems like the trend with event décor is really a lot toward lighting,” Heidi says. They use LED park hand lights for anything from rock n’ roll-type shows, to backdrop lighting for parties, to weddings. “A lot of [their popularity] has to do with the current crop of reality TV shows,” Jim says.

He also noted that showing clients the value of what they do from a technical and logistical standpoint is the hardest part of the business. He said that everyone thinks they know two things: their job, and sound. In truth, having your IT guy rent a Mr. Microphone and expect perfect audio is not going to happen. Realizing this some time ago, Eagle Eye made Event Depot its in-house AV provider. Now, approximately 65-75 percent of their events occur at Eagle Eye. In addition, “We have a handful of clients that give us regular business, several events a month at least, and a lot of those aren’t necessarily venues,” said Heidi.

Most of their larger scale turnkey work occurs at the Lansing Center. “A lot of times we come in with all of our own gear and use their people,” Jim explains. “We’ve worked with the Lansing Center quite a bit and they supplement our needs.” As a former card-carrying union worker, Jim understands and appreciates the talents that the Lansing Center’s workers bring to the party.

What neither Brumbaugh understands is the Lansing Center’s and the City of Lansing’s apparent opposition to the proposed hotel and convention center development in Lansing Township near Eastwood Towne Center. “It would be a great thing for the industry in Lansing,” opines Heidi. “When you put your mind into a meeting planner’s mindset, they go to cities where there are things to do and things going on. A city itself is a big draw. [The new facility] would just grow the pie. It would be a bigger pie, and your piece would be bigger.”

They believe part of the problem, one that they’ve worked hard to overcome, is the concept of cooperation among competing companies. “Out there [in Las Vegas] is so much different than it was [in Lansing] in the past,” Heidi says.  But “We’re seeing that change over time--where you have no problem calling your fiercest competitor, and they’re there in a heartbeat.” They encourage growth and expansion, and that’s the key. “That’s why Grand Rapids has been doing so well. They expand, they innovate, and [it] really helps the economy.”

Looking down the road, “We’re feeling like we need to define the    different entities,” Heidi says,” and the different areas that we work in. Linen production is such a big portion of our business that we feel that needs to spin off [into its own business]. The Event Depot storefront really services a social market predominantly, where we have brides walking in, or birthday parties, or prom or whatever, and it’s a lot of do-it-yourselfers. It’s not event production. And then there’s the actual event production,” which is  handled through Imagine Production Services.

“Ultimately,” Jim says, “the goal is to take the Event Depot storefront concept, and start cookie-cuttering that, and expand out to Grand Rapids, Detroit, Traverse City area, those larger population centers that have some type of draw beyond graduation parties...where you have a steady stream of corporate business as well.”

The lion’s share of their business comes from the tri-county area and most of their growth is due to referrals and word-of-mouth. Early on, they did a lot of donating in order to get their company’s name, and reputation for good work, around town. They did a lot with the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce, donating or deeply discounting their services.

“We want to get our tablecloths on tables so people can see them,” says Heidi. “We want to be in venues, so the venues can meet us. In this type of industry, people need to touch and feel and experience what it is we do, because they don’t understand it otherwise.”

Asked to sum up their business, Heidi says, “The thing that makes us a little bit different is that we actually take the time to understand the mission of the event and what they’re trying to accomplish by the event. We’re not just there to sell them stuff. What we bring to the table helps them develop their event so much more that they’re able to pay for hiring us many times over.”

On December 1, Event Depot moved into a space in the Stadium District across from Oldsmobile Park.

And one last thing: Any regrets about moving back to Michigan? “None,” Jim said with a smile. Living in Las Vegas, “I felt like I was going to burst into flames every time I walked outside.”

No danger of that anymore.