02/10/2026
In LOVING MEMORY of Brian "Bubbs" Dombek
Some losses hit you harder than others and take you a little longer to process. This is one of them. There are several factors that weigh into this. When I first heard that Brian “Bubbs” Dombek had passed away, I was numb. Then came the anger, then the tears, and now the acceptance.
Now, I feel that I need to pay tribute to the person who I knew and loved before the demons of drug abuse took over and ultimately stole his life.
From the 15 year old kid who shaved his head to get a job at the Monster Mash Haunted Hayride at McCray’s Farm working as Uncle Fester because he was so eager to be a part of Fear on the Farm to the tearful phone call from his sister, Laura a few nights ago telling us that he had passed away, to say that our relationship has been a rollercoaster is an understatement. Bubbs was, at times, one of my best friends and most trusted confidantes, someone who I considered a little brother, a right hand man. Later on, as the disease of addiction overtook his life, we did not speak at all because I could not watch him slowly kill himself.
Instead, I choose to take solace in the good memories I have. Those are the ones that I will forever keep in my heart. I remember fondly the kid who, in our early days, singlehandedly kept the ride running in the midst of a near riot on Riverboat Road. He ran from scene to scene, doing them one after another, as the tractor slowly made its way down the trail. This kind of dedication would define Bubbs over the years.
Soon, he and JD would be the premiere clown duo in the tunnel. SparkleNuts and Oasis Sandpaper would terrorize every wagon, every night with their chainsaws and weapons. Their brand of dark humor became a signature of “ClownTown” and something that all patrons looked forward to every weekend. These two were an inseparable pair. You rarely saw one without the other, so much so that everyone thought they were brothers. In fact, when the national Halloween Attraction Show first made the transition from Chicago to St. Louis, the two of them were hired 2 years in a row, at the famous Darkness Haunted Attraction as guest actors. They were a hit.
The two of them became a force to be reckoned with. They were by my side every weekend and summer building at the farm. Bubbs would bring the nephews along in the family van. It was his job to watch them while Laura and his parents worked. Those kids truly were raised at the farm. It was a regular sight to see all 4 of the Stewart brothers running up and down the trails, chasing each other and getting dirty. It wasn’t long before we put them to work as well. It became a right of passage for them to work in the first 3 scenes. Each one did it and none of them complained.
In the early days of the Monster Mash Hayride, there was barely a board or a screw put up at the Farm that JD and Bubbs did not have a hand in. They were the major part of the attraction. The creativity and imagination in artistic detailing that Bubbs and JD brought to the table helped bring us to the next level.
As we worked together on the attraction, we became more than friends. I became as close to him, if not closer than I was to my own brother. The Dombek family adopted JD as one of their own. As the seasons passed and the crew of the Hayride expanded, the bonds grew stronger. Soon, as people returned year after year, it became obvious that we were building something special. The crew started to become more like a family.
Bubbs’ nephews, Dad and sister were all working at the attraction. It was a true family affair. His nephews were hanging out with my sons. His youngest nephew was even with my oldest, in a scene, working the Hayride, when he fell and broke his arm. Bonds like that seem unbreakable.
Then, a dark cloud fell on the Dombek family. The Spalding factory (now known as Callaway) where all the adults worked, decided to relocate. The steady stream of income in the house was gone. The stress of that was unbelievable. It started to show. It took its toll on people’s health. Where the future once seemed so certain and set in stone, everything crumbled with that one corporate decision.
Pops Dombek got sick because of the stress. Alice got sick. After just buying a house, the financial stress left all the adults, including Bubbs at the wits’ end. Nothing was ever the same for the family after the plant decided to relocate.
When Pops Dombek, his dad, passed away, it left him emotionally devastated. He tried to keep it all together and act like he was okay when in fact, he was easily finding the substances to mask the pain and make himself numb. It was at the height of the opioid epidemic. Pills made the pain of losing his Dad go away.
When one pill wasn’t enough, it became two. That led to a stronger substance. That led to a downward spiral into addiction. This slowly fully took over the Bubbs we all knew and loved. That downward spiral ended over 20 years of inseparable friendship, sharing ideas and making memories on various road trips and adventures. Addiction led him on a 15 year journey into hell that ultimately ended with his death. His cause of death is undetermined but I feel the chemicals definitely played a significant role in a young man passing in his 40s.
Sadly, this was not the ending that anyone of us prayed or hoped for. As we kept each other up to date about what was going on with him, we all hoped that somehow, someway, he would pull himself out of it. But rather than dwell on the negativity, we choose to remember the good times and the good memories.
We honor the talent that Brian “Bubbs” Dombek had. We value the gift that he shared with us and the important part that he played in the early years of Fear on the Farm at McCray’s Farm. We hold fast to the happy memories we have of those early years and the fun times that we had with the Bubbs we knew and loved. We lament the addiction and the choices that he made that overpowered his life and took him from us too soon. We hope that somehow, in death, he can find the peace and the serenity that he so desperately was searching for.
We will miss you Buddy.
Love,
Dan
