The Baron of Bubble

The Baron of Bubble at the 2022 Sister Bay Fall Fest Parade. File photo by Rachel Lukas.

“I’m looking for the Baron of Bubbles,” I say, introducing myself to Larry Ripp over the phone. I am quickly corrected – “Just Bubble,” he says. “No S. Bubble is a place. Much like the Land of Oz.”

And off we go.

I’ve reached Ripp in his van as he drives to Spring Green to catch a couple of performances at American Players Theater. It’s one of the few weekends between May and October when he’s not booked for a performance as the Baron.

Ripp wasn’t always a Baron. Fourteen years ago he was in Madison looking for a toy to give his grandson when he came across some equipment for making huge bubbles. Intrigued, he bought the set and all the necessary ingredients. Back at his hotel he began testing it out, and soon enough other guests started stopping by to take pictures of this man making huge bubbles. 

“I thought there might be something to this,” he said. 

Retired from his job in the maintenance department at the University of Minnesota, Ripp is also an actor and writer who has spent most of his life performing in community and professional theater. He created the Baron of Bubble character and took it to the park, performing for kids. Soon, parents were asking him to work birthday parties and festivals. 

The Baron – who also goes by Sidney Soapington – lives in Minneapolis when he’s not handling matters in Bubble, but he has Door County roots. A member of Sevastopol’s class of 1970, he worked as a radio announcer for WDOR for a decade before he moved to Minneapolis.

Now the Baron travels with his partner, Vickijoan the First Lady of Foam, who also makes balloons as the Twister Sister. 

You can catch him in the Fall Fest Parade on Oct. 14, and after the parade in the street near the Post Office at the bottom of the hill.